This article is from page 27 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 27 JPG
MAKING the change from a life of 24-7 work and constant travel to one of walking the dog and tending to the garden every day would be consid- ered traumatic in anyone’s life, but for former TD Brendan Daly change or Ne slommyal ems stom (0) oy
One year into retirement the Coor- aclare man is beginning to “unwind” in his native parish and become ac- customed to this next stage in his Tate
Change had always been part of the deal when he entered politics.
First he, and his family, had to get use to life as a TD.
“When you are elected you are thrown in the deep end and you have to fend for yourself and then it all changed again when you are made a minister,’ he said.
His wife Patricia helped to keep it
all in perspective however.
‘When I came home with the State car Patricia said you go in one door and out another. She was very practi- cal about it all,’ he said.
‘One week the red carpet was rolled out for you the next week someone else was walking on it and you had to stand back.”
It is just 12 months since the last election and although he is no longer a full time politician he said he can- not yet leave behind completely the different issues and people that made up the last 34 years of his life.
“Unwinding after 34 years of high power activity, it takes a while to get back to what other people would call normal activity,” he said.
The former Fianna Fail TD and senator said he missed the travelling and his work in Europe.
“It is not possible yet to completely switch off. I wouldn’t like to totally
abandon issues I was involved with over the years and the people that supported me.”
He continues to follow closely the world of politics and current affairs. He is particularly interested in the development of west Clare, Ennis General Hospital, Shannon Airport and the Lisbon Treaty.
The former TD praised the Ennis hospital for finally discovering that his wife had a broken ankle after two years of misdiagnosis and lack of diagnosis in so called centres of excellence.
Daly was elected to the Dail in 1973 when fellow Clare man the late president Paddy Hillary went to Eu- rope as Ireland’s commissioner.
He remains committed to Europe and is hoping that the Lisbon Treaty will be accepted by the people of Ire- land.
“I try to remind myself that I did
my best for 34 years in Leinster House.”
He is now hoping that legislation relating to the internet he worked on before the election will come to frui- tion in this new Dail.
Although he enjoyed politics and misses it from time to time he said, “in political life it sometimes felt that life was going in reverse rather dereDO MOM c-0 Klee
“It took about 20 years to get the government offices to Kilrush. It took a long time for that to happen, it doesn’t take that long for a head of cabbage to grow,’ he said referring to his garden.
“T now have more time for myself, home and the garden and I go to the beach every day with Ross, the red setter.”