Emotional farewell as Mullooly hangs up his microphone

On the surface, it seemed like just another busy weekend for Ciaran Mullooly in his job as RTÉ's Midlands Correspondent.

On Saturday, he was reporting from the Curragh on the return of spectators to the racecourse. The following day's subject was Lough Funshinagh in South Roscommon, as he informed the nation that its flooding crisis was coming to an end.

But what was different about the weekend was that Sunday's delivery of that familiar sign-off, "Ciaran Mullooly, RTÉ News..." was his last.

Having been the face of Midlands news on RTÉ for more than a quarter of a century, he decided to take voluntary early retirement after what he described as a very tough 15 months, personally and professionally, since the start of the pandemic.

The Ballyleague, Lanesborough, man said the weekend felt "very emotional" as he completed his final reports for the national broadcaster.

"It began on Friday when I had a get-together with my great colleagues (from RTÉ's Athlone studio), Anne and Paula, and cameraman Jimmy Norman, in the Wineport in Glasson.

"That started the roller-coaster of the weekend. We got on the first carriage and started reminiscing. I didn't think it would be as emotional as it was," he told the Westmeath Independent on Monday.

After starting out as a junior reporter for the Longford Leader in 1985, he moved into television on RTÉ's 'Ear To The Ground' show in 1993, and took up the position of Midlands Correspondent in its newsroom two years later.

He said the decision to retire had been prompted by a few different factors coming together.

"One of the reasons I'm going is that I have missed the social interaction with people (during the pandemic). It was great on Saturday at the Curragh, and great to meet people on Sunday in Roscommon, but the last 15 months have been really, really stressful.

"Aside from the subject matter of Covid, and people losing their lives, there has been no social interaction.

"Even in Athlone, I used to have my tea club where every week, or every other week, we would meet in The Bailey (on Pearse Street) with a few political luminaries and media people. I've missed the camaraderie and the craic of that too."

Ciaran has been actively involved in voluntary and community work throughout his time in RTÉ and he will now be taking up a role in the area of community development and social enterprise in Roscommon.

"It will be a public service type of job again. It will involve working with community groups, offering them assistance, and helping them to help themselves in respect of community facilities," he said.

"It will be a case of doing the sort of work that I have been doing as a volunteer up in Ballyleague in Roscommon for the last 30 years.

"Last year, we did an astro pitch. This year we put out a new access boat on the Shannon for people with disabilities. Who knows what next year's project will be?

"That's the sort of work I want to do now. I have had enough of chasing fire brigades, you might say. And I'll hopefully be spending a bit more time at home as well."

He has reported on thousands of stories over the years, but when asked about ones that stood out in his memory he mentioned reports on the subject of cancer misdiagnosis at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

"It started out with just one or two people who had got a misdiagnosis; before we finished the story there were 9 or 10 women who had been given the wrong diagnosis.

"Instead of having been given the all-clear some of them had cancer, so it was a devastating investigation to be involved in because of the personal implications it had for people.

"I suppose down through the years the tough stories, the sad stories, that stand out to me would be the murders in Castledaly, at the shop (in 2001) which was a very distressing story for everybody involved.

"The death of a young boy on a bus in Clara, a school bus accident, would stick in my mind," he said.

"On the positive side, we had great days around Paidi O'Sé's Leinster football success with Westmeath, which was one of the high occasions."

He also said that, having covered numerous flooding stories over the years, he was delighted to end his career with an upbeat one about the overflow pipe that's due to resolve the issues affecting residents close to Lough Funshinagh.

"We are always accused of putting people on air who are moaning, whinging or crying, but on Sunday at Lough Funshinagh everyone was saying how good things were - something had been highlighted and it had come good."

He first disclosed the news of his retirement last week and since then there has been a massive outpouring of well-wishes from people across the country, both online and in person.

As he was leaving the Curragh on Saturday, and walking back to his car, three vehicles that were approaching from behind rolled down their windows to wish him good luck.

"It was three total strangers, and all they had been looking at was my back, so I thought, is my back that obvious?!" he laughed.

In the social media post announcing his retirement, he expressed his "sincere appreciation" to everyone who helped him during his career in journalism.

He thanked "the men and women who spoke to me for hundreds and thousands of interviews online, on camera and on radio down all the days" and "my sources who never spoke on camera but were always there to help me."

He concluded by thanking his wife Angela and sons Bryan and Eoghan for their understanding, love and support.

"I look forward immensely to spending more time with you all in the coming months and years," he said.