Richard Daly - a man who made a difference to Athy

HE is a man who has made a difference. Not just in relation to his teaching role but also as regards the Athy community which he joined in 1977 as a young inexperienced teacher. Richard Daly joined the Technical School on the Carlow Road, then under the principalship of John J Doyle, as an English and Mathematics teacher. Having graduated from University College Cork, he joined the many other graduates who sought employment in the Irish Vocational Education system which was then controlled by county councils. 

It was a time when applicants for teaching positions had to travel the counties canvassing support from county councillors who voted on teacher appointments. It must have been a demeaning exercise undertaken by young men and women of that time. Since the removal of responsibility for vocational education from county councils to training boards, teacher appointments are made strictly on merit.

The Vocational School on the Carlow Road was opened in 1939 and it replaced the part-time school which was located in what older readers will remember as the Catholic Young Men’s Society building on the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place. 

TC Walsh was principal of the Carlow Road school when it opened and he remained the principal for the following ten years. Nicholas Walsh was the principal in 1976 before transferring to Castledermot and John J Doyle was principal for the following seventeen years. 

The young Richard Daly, who came from County Tipperary to join the vocational school staff seventeen years earlier and who held the vice-principalship from 1987, was then appointed principal.

Richard, who will retire on the 1 September, has been the longest serving principal of the Athy School having served in that position for 32 years. In that time he has overseen huge changes. Plans for the stand-alone school were approved by the Department of Education in 1999, but delays prompted the principal, Richard Daly, to arrange six years later for a well-publicised class to be taught in the ten-acre field which was intended as the site of the new school. 

The principal took the class himself and expressed the hope that the government would take notice of how the Athy Vocational School had been neglected by successive government ministers. 

In February 2008 the now unhappyp principal approached Derek Mooney of R.T.E. regarding the delay in building the long-promised new school. The subsequent publicity on Mooney’s R.T.E. programme appears to have had an effect. Two years later the new school was officially opened by the Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan.

‘Athy College’, as the new school is now called, had pupil numbers of approximately 100 when it opened. Today it has in or about 700 pupils and approximately 80 staff. An extension to the school to accommodate an additional 200 pupils has been approved by the Department of Education. 

The Athy College, under the guidance and leadership of Richard Daly, now caters for thirty-three different nationalities. It is a secular school where pupils, regardless of income, nationality or religion, can obtain a first-class education. Athy College has been welcoming students and teachers from Japan since January 2016. 

This unique relationship between Athy College and Japanese schools is due in large measure to Richard Daly who throughout his principalship has displayed enormous initiative and courage to advance his school’s standing.

During his principalship, Richard Daly has extended the reach of the school far beyond that of the school pupils to the general public of Athy. Athy Film Society, organised by Claudia Reeves, holds regular film nights in the school theatre, thanks to the foresight of Richard Daly. Richard is particularly proud, and rightly so, of the part he and his team of volunteers play in the annual ‘Darkness into Light’ event which is held in May each year to raise funds for Pieta House. 

Richard started this event ten years ago having failed, due to personal circumstances, to attend the Naas ‘Darkness into Light ‘event which he had done for years previously. Richard has the same team with him for the annual walk which include Pat Byrne, Tom Kelly, Jimmy Byrne, Sean O’Mahony, Frank Dobbyn and Patricia Berry. Sadly another valued member of the ‘Darkness into Light’ team, Diarmaid Flynn, died in January 2024.

I had quite forgotten until I did some research that Richard was a county councillor and an Athy Urban District councillor from 2004 to 2014. His political career started when with others he founded Young Fine Gael. He was elected as the first president of that association and for two years was a member of the Fine Gael National Executive.

 He has long stepped aside from active involvement in national politics but still retains friendships and contacts with many of the political leaders of the past. Involved in Athy’s community initiatives over the years, Richard firmly believes that as school principal it is part of his responsibility to be active in the town affairs. 

It’s an involvement he intends to continue.

Richard formally retires on the 1 September and on his retirement he will be remembered as the most energetic and innovative principal of a school which won the Trinity College 21st Century School of Distinction Award in 2018 and again in 2020. 

Many Athy College pupils have become pioneers in education and society. From music to media, academia to agriculture, many Athy College pupils of the past have won national acclaim. The Tipperary man, with a ready smile which so easily becomes a hearty laugh, is wished a long and happy retirement.

I was delighted to see and hear on Facebook the twenty or so members of Athy's Comhaltas playing on the main gig rig at Wexford Fleadh Cheoil. Their appearance was a wonderful tribute to Jim Kelly and others who are providing teaching lessons for many young people interested in Irish music.