Travel
Irene Winters: from travel agent to cathaoirleach via Simon Harris
Ex councillor Irene Winters looks back at how she came to be a force in Wicklow politics with reporter David Medcalf
Former Councillor Irene Winters
Not so long ago Irene Winters used to travel the length and breadth of Wicklow as cathaoirleach of the county council. Now, since stepping down at the recent local elections, she is free to work on her golf handicap and to be a doting aunt to nephews who live nearby. The decision not to run brought to an end an unbroken two decade run on the local authority, a notable record in a field where the cliché suggests that all careers in politics tend to end in failure. She has defied the truism by departing with head held high, leaving a successor from her beloved party in place to take over where she left off.
“I am not retiring retiring,” insists the 58-year-old, as impressively brimful of energy as she ever was. “I am still at the nine to five, Monday to Friday.” These days her association with the county council is as a staff member in the housing section. She speaks with an accent that has an undeniably Ulster tinge, despite having lived here for most of her life and being quick to call Wicklow home.
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