Cathal joined the south eastern area office near Shaws Bridge in January 1975.

In 1978, he took over responsibility for the South Eastern Education and Library Board road safety office based in Armagh where he remained until his retirement last week.

Cathal became very much involved with curriculum based road safety education and played a major role in the development of a GCSE in Motor Vehicle and Road User Studies.

OPPORTUNITY

The latter was first examined in 1988 and has seen a significant uptake in secondary and grammar schools since that time.

Indeed the subject is currently offered in schools throughout England and Wales where it is the only GCSE available in this subject area.

A major review of the schools curriculum took place in 1989 and Cathal seized the opportunity to work with the Department of Education and the Curriculum Council to achieve significant input for road safety education at that time.

In 1990 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Institute for Road Safety Officers in London, the first Northern Ireland person to be honoured in this way.

He received the MBE from the Queen in 1995 for his work in curriculum development, something of which he is very proud.

In 2003 he was again invited to London to receive an award from the Automobile Association for his continuing work in Road Safety Education.

Cathal has regarded his work more as a vocation and has devoted a significant part of his life to the furtherance of road safety instruction in schools and colleges.

He makes the point strongly that none of his achievements would have been possible without the unstinting support of his colleagues in the Armagh office and the overwhelming commitment from teachers in the Southern Board area, many of whom became close friends over the years.

PACKED

The reality of that loyalty and friendship was crystal clear when the Famous Grouse at Ballyhegan was packed to capacity last week to celebrate his years in road safety.

Every county in Northern Ireland was represented, as were the various organisations with which he had worked. Glowing tributes were paid by various speakers.

In his response, Cathal spoke of the outstanding people he had met and with whom he had worked, both within the branch and the teaching profession.

In closing, he thanked all of them for their friendship and nature of their support and encouragement.