BY SEÁN P. FEENY

Tonight (Friday) marks the end of an era as one of the most recognisable voices in Irish language radio officially celebrates his retirement.

For over three decades Rosses man Conall Ó Dubhthaigh was at the forefront of Irish language radio news broadcasting from Donegal and tonight he joins other members of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta from around the country for a well-earned retirement function in Galway.

After initially training as a teacher and working in both Dublin and Westmeath, a young Conall Ó Dubhthaigh soon found that the teaching profession was not for him and gave it up after a year.

"I took on a temporary job landscaping and one day, as we were having our break, I saw a notice in the newspaper advertising a job with RTÉ as a news correspondent with Raidió na Gaeltachta based in Donegal," said Conall.

"I remember getting the call from Andreas Ó Gallchóir at RTÉ - I was landscaping in the townland of Three Mile Water between Wicklow town and Arklow at the time.

"It was a Monday and he asked me how soon I could be in Derrybeg. By Thursday I was back home in Donegal at the RnaG studios. That was in November 1975."

Conall revealed that although he gave his renowned sign-off, Slán agus beannacht, for the final time a couple of months ago, it hasn't sunk in yet that he is retired.

"I think the first few months will feel like a holiday, but I don't have any long-term plans either. It's just nice to be able to take a complete break.

"My life has revolved around my work with radio for the past 35 years so now I'm just going to take it easy and play it by ear," he laughed.

Conall recalled being thrown in the deep end from the very beginning and having to report in tragedies very close to home. "I remember one of my very first news broadcasts was on the Evelyn Marie trawler tragedy in Burtonport.

"All of the senior members of staff had gone to Galway for a meeting and I had to report on the tragedy and it was so sad as I knew the young men that had lost their lives."

Many more landmark broadcasts would follow from all over Donegal and Ulster.

"I spent a lot of time travelling to the North covering the Troubles and the Hunger Strikes.

"I vividly remember going up to Belfast to report on the funeral of Bobby Sands. I stayed in the Glen Hotel on the Glen Road in West Belfast, but the taxis would only take you as far as Kennedy Way in those days," he said.

Early days

Conall said that in the early days of broadcasting from Donegal, it was all about building up your contacts and having people in all the Gaeltacht regions of the county, that you could call.

"Travelling around the county and meeting people really put you in touch with the community and parishes from Glencolmcille all the way up to Fanad."

During his long career stationed in Derrybeg, Conall of course also saw a lot of changes in technology that would first bring Donegal and Irish language to the whole nation, and then in recent years to the whole world.

"So much has changed since I first started, I remember it would take us up to 20 minutes to line up a phone call to Tory, live on air. Now it's just a matter of seconds. " he laughed.

"I'm very proud to have witnessed the growth in our listenership over the years, not only nationally, but we now have people listening in from all over the world."

Conall said that he also felt very proud to have been part of a revival in the Irish language.

"I remember many years ago stopping off with a lady I knew in Wexford to make a phone call to my late mother. When I went back into the lady's kitchen after making the phone call in the hallway, she asked me where I had called and what language I had spoken.

"When I told her that it was Donegal I had called and that I was speaking Irish she asked me whether I had found it hard to learn Irish in school, she didn't realise that we had grown up speaking Irish and that it was English that we had to learn in school.

"I really feel that we helped create more awareness of the language with young people and seeing how it's flourishing these days fills you with a sense of pride."

Conall said the one thing that he will miss about his job is the people.

"Mind you I might have more opportunities to go out and meet them in person these days," he laughed.

"I'll certainly miss all the staff at the station and all the people I worked with through out the Gaeltacht communities throughout Donegal and I'd like to thank them for all their help and commitment to the Irish language over the years," said Conall.