New Spanish Legal Property Service launched in Ireland

Spanish Lawyer, Fernando Salmerón, launches New, legal property service in Ireland for people interested in buying Spanish property or who previously bought property off-plan and lost their deposit.

Press Release

Fernando Salmerón’s Spanish Legal Services for Irish People

New Spanish Legal Property Service launched in Ireland to assist Irish Property Owners who bought property in Spain.

Fernando Salmerón, head of Bufete Salmerón, www.bufetesalmeron.comwhich specialises in banking and property law, based in Seville, Spain is delighted to announce the launch of his Spanish property legal service in Ireland for Irish people who bought property in Spain or are thinking of purchasing property there in the near future.

In particular he has experienced great success in recouping monies through the Spanish Courts for people who invested in overseas property and never received that property and lost their deposit and other monies.

He was recently successful in a case in The Court of First Instance and Instruction No 6 in Valencia which ordered CaixaBank to pay more than 200,000 euros to residents in Bollullos Par del Condado (Huelva), relating to payments made to a developer for the purchase of houses that were never built. See details below.

Fernando Salmerón is now extending his Spanish legal service to Irish people who previously bought properties in Spain or are now interested in buying or selling Spanish properties.

In particular he wants to inform Irish buyers who bought property off plan in Spain which was never built, that legal recourse is now available to them to recoup their deposit monies through the Spanish Courts with his assistance.

He also wants to make Irish people who bought property in Spain aware of floor clauses that were wrongly inserted in their mortgage contracts and that recourse is available to them through the Spanish Courts.

His legal firm also aims to make Irish people aware of multi-currency loans; this is a type of mortgage that allows payment in a currency other than the euro. They are variable interest mortgages in which the interest rate is usually referenced to an index. The Irish customer was not provided with adequate information about the product. The possible consequences of the appreciation or depreciation of the currency, not only on the monthly instalments but also on the outstanding capital, were not explained to the customer by means of simulations in documentary form; no information leaflet was provided on the characteristics and risks of the loan in foreign currency; nor was there any explanation in the mortgage deed itself.

He says “I am launching this property legal service in Ireland because Irish people over many years have invested in Spanish property. This is their opportunity to familiarise themselves with the pros and cons of buying property in Spain and in particular the pitfalls. If an Irish person has had a bad experience where they bought off plan and the property was never built and they lost their deposit, then I can assist them recoup some or all of that lost money with interest through the Spanish Courts”

Irish people interested in finding out more about this property legal service can check out Spanish Lawyer, Fernando Salmerón’s website. www.bufetesalmeron.com

Fernando Salmerón, is also available for interview on all Irish media.

Further Information, contact:

Mary FitzGerald PR Consultant, on behalf of Fernando Salmerón, Bufete Salmerón, Seville Spain.

Mary FitzGerald Public Relations

T: 01-6787916

M: 086-2520181

E: mary@maryfitzgeraldpr.ie

W: www.maryfitzgeraldpr.ie

Recent Successful Spanish Property Court Case

Fernando Salmerón, Spanish lawyer, www.bufetesalmeron.com was recently successful in a case in The Court of First Instance and Instruction No 6 in Valencia  which ordered CaixaBank to pay more than 200,000 euros to residents in Bollullos Par del Condado (Huelva), relating to payments made to a developer for the purchase of houses that were never built.

Mr. Salmerón, said that the ruling states that the bank will pay both the payments, transfers and cheques deposited by the residents and also requires the bank to pay interest dating back from 2007.

He also stated that CaixaBank “could not have been unaware of the deposits as Bollullos Par del Condado is a small town, and the bank had the capacity to control the payments made by the buyers”.

Bufete Salmerón sued CaixaBank at the end of 2020 on behalf of the residents.

Between October 2007 and January 2008, the plaintiffs signed contracts with a developer for the purchase and sale of homes to be built in the municipality of Bollullos, in the streets of Calles Calvario, Pendique and Tres de Abril.

Prior to the signing of the aforementioned sale and purchase contracts, some of the purchasers signed a bilateral agreement of sale and purchase through a commercial company. This company then received the deposits paid by the purchasers as a reservation and subsequently handed them over to the developer, between February and September 2007.

THE END

Press Release

Assign Legal Recruitment rebrands as Assign Recruitment, offering increased recruitment services to a range of businesses

For Immediate Release

22nd February 2023

Assign Recruitment, formerly known as Assign Legal Recruitment, was established in 2017 and has now re-branded as Assign Recruitment www.assign.ie.

It has expanded its recruitments services to not only provide legal recruitment services, but also recruitment services for a wide range of businesses and industries in Ireland and the UK to include;

  • Accountancy and Finance
  • Banking and Business
  • Engineering
  • Legal
  • Hospitality, Travel and Tourism
  • Transport
  • Marketing
  • Medical Devices
  • Pharmaceutical
  • IT, Telecoms and much more.

Assign Recruitment, with its panel of expert recruitment professionals,  aims to provide a top class service not only to Clients looking to fill key roles in their companies and businesses but also to its extensive database of high calibre Candidates seeking to change jobs or move up the career ladder.

For Clients, their companies and businesses, Assign Recruitment aims to match the best Candidates to fill the best roles in a Client’s company, in a fast and cost effective manner.

So if your company has a role or roles to fill in any area of business in 2023, do contact Assign Recruitment for a FREE Consultation.

For Candidates looking to change careers or move roles in 2023 to find a better work/life balance or expand their professional experience, Assign Recruitment has a variety of roles to suit all requirements.   New Career in 2023, Assign has you covered!

Contact us today to start that conversation whether you are a business looking to hire the very best talent or a Candidate looking for new and rewarding opportunities in your chosen career.

Check out our website www.assign.ie to see the current roles available. It is regularly updated with new and exciting roles whether you want to work in an office, from home or in a hybrid role, we have got what you are looking for.

Assign Recruitment, we Go the Extra Mile!”

Further information;

Mary FitzGerald,

PR Consultant-Assign Recruitment

Mary FitzGerald Public Relations

E: mary@maryfitzgeraldpr.ie

T: 01-6787916

OR

E: hello@assign.ie

T:   Assign Recruitment-(01)9106921 or (01)9106927

W: www.assign.ie

THE END

Page Turners, New, RTE, TV Book Review Series

I am one of the Producers of a new TV book review series called Page Turners along with Anne McLoughlin, writer and producer, and the Team from Vision Independent Productions www.visionindependentproductions.com. The programmes feature book clubs from all over Ireland reviewing a range of books from fiction, non fiction to classic and memoirs. Tune in on Thursday nights, from Thursday, 5th January 2023, RTE 1, 10.15pm.

Would love to hear your feedback!

Book Club, New RTE TV Series

I am working on a NEW RTE TV series called Book Club to be broadcast in the Autumn 2022. We are looking for Book Clubs to take part. If you enjoy reading and are part of a Book Club do get in touch; mary@maryfitzgeraldpr.ie. I would love to hear from you!

Launch of Clare Anne Taylor Couture Cakes, Clare Ann Range

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

CLARE ANNE TAYLOR CAKE RANGE

The launch of the Clare Anne range of luxurious hand-crafted cakes is a real treat for all cake lovers and those wishing to gift an exceptional culinary creation to mark a special occasion.

Brought to the market by Clare Anne Taylor, the renowned pastry chef, best known for her Couture range of elegant, bespoke wedding cake creations, these cakes are more readily available on three day order from a select group of retailers of fine foods and online through click and collect at www.clareannetaylor.ie

Defined by beautiful artistry and style and using only the finest and seasonal ingredients, the cakes come in two sizes in three designs which vary seasonally.

Chocolate Guinness and Hazelnut Praline cake

Bronze Award Winner at this year’s Irish Food Awards; Rich and light Chocolate and

Guinness Sponge, spread with Hazelnut and Almond Praline and filled with Hazelnut Italian Meringue Buttercream Autumnal Spiced Honey Sponge, Poached Pears, and a Velvet Smooth Pear and Chocolate Ganache

CLARE’S STORY

Clare Taylor launched Clare Anne Taylor Couture Cakes as a mirco enterprise in 2017. Starting from her kitchen at home, Clare has grown the business to become one of Ireland’s foremost designers of luxury cakes and confections for weddings and celebrations.

Working with some of Irelands leading event planners, 5-star hotels and individual clients, the business has grown in reputation and scale. Recently moved to a purpose designed pastry kitchen and offices in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, Clare and her team now bring her luxurious creations to a wider market.

Throughout our development we have been supported by wonderful local and national suppliers of the finest and seasonal ingredients.

“We had the pleasure of working with Clare Anne Taylor. All creations were delivered with precision and were even more beautiful in person. We very much look forward to working together again”

John and Sandy Weir, Forest Avenue

“Clare Taylor is a breath of fresh air and really gets what it takes to be a provider of couture cakes to a Five Star Deluxe Hotel.  Her attention to detail and “can do” attitude are exactly what is needed at this high level.  Cake flavours sourced from local ingredients and innovative designs taste and look incredible on the day.

Paul Kelly, Head Pastry Chef, The Merrion Hotel

Further information contact:

Mary FitzGerald Public Relations

T:  01-6787916

M: 086-2520181

E: mary@maryfitzgeraldpr.ie

W: www.maryfitzgeraldpr.ie

Irish Examiner article on Mary FitzGerald, Saturday 26th September 2020

Arts and crafts with the woman who taught us when we were kids: Mary Fitzgerald 

Mary’s make and do show ‘How Do You Do’ has been making a welcome comeback on the RTÉ Player

Mary Fitzgerald in the National Gallery. Photograph Moya Nolan

Mary Fitzgerald:  Her much-loved arts and crafts programmes can now be seen on the RTE Player. Picture: Moya Nolan

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 – 09:30 AM

AMANDA CASSIDY

Who remembers turning the house upside-down to find the list of glue and glitter, pipe-cleaners and googly eyes Mary Fitzgerald told us we’d need for that day’s creation?

Inevitably, in our house anyway, we’d give up the hunt and watch her cut, stick and paint, mesmerized by the seemingly magical creations she’d come up with in those precious 15 minutes between arriving home from school and starting the homework.

An entire generation was raised on painted bottles, dolls-house furniture and paper aliens on her show How Do You Do which featured on RTÉ each weekday in the late 80s and early 90s. 

Now, thanks to a social media campaign to get the iconic arts and crafts show back onto our screens during Covid, Mary Fitzgerald’s one-woman make and do show has been making a comeback via the RTÉ player, entertaining the children of those children she captivated for years. So just why is the 30-year-old show so popular, and to what does Mary attribute her creativity?

“When I was a child, I loved making things. My mum would buy me make and do books from Woolworths in Kilkenny where I’m from, and I’d make doll houses, puppets, birthday cards, anything really. Later, I trained as a primary school teacher and went on to teach profoundly deaf children at St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls in Cabra. It was around this time that I spotted an ad in the paper from RTÉ looking for researchers for education programmes, so I applied.

“My CV sat in a pile for two years,” she remembers. “Then, out of the blue, I got a letter about a new Saturday morning show called Anything Goes. I remember I was teaching the children at my school about a creepy-crawly caterpillar that turns into a butterfly and I’d made up a song, I still remember it. So off I went in my massive paper caterpillar with a hat on my head and sang the song for them. It is the first and last time I ever sang in public.” 

 The show, a huge hit with the Irish public, went on to run for six years, with the first hour dedicated to the under 10s. “Many of the stories and adventures I made up were actually based on Trudy Mary, my brother’s imaginary friend,” laughs Mary. “I just loved it. When RTÉ asked me if I wanted my own show I didn’t hesitate. Essentially I was doing as an adult exactly what I loved doing as a child.” 

And so the show, How Do You Do (which became fondly known as Mary’s Make and Do) took flight. It aired for 15-20 minutes during The Den and was among the highest-rated shows for the station. (It was only narrowly beaten to the top spot by The Simpsons, explains Mary proudly.)

“Initially, I came up with all the ideas. I’d go out and get the cornflake boxes, buy the arts material and do the crafts at home myself, starting with each step, a quarter made, half made, until it was complete…here’s one I made earlier! But eventually, I got a small store room to keep things in and my team slowly grew.”

Before long, Mary became a household name and subsequently, one of Ireland’s most recognised celebrities.

“We didn’t have email or social media back then, so the only indication that the show was successful were the sack-loads of entries to competitions that would arrive into Montrose.

“Once we ran a paint-a-witch competition for Halloween and there were so many entries that we decided to stick them up on every corridor in RTÉ. I mean, there wasn’t a space on the wall in that place that wasn’t filled with some scary-looking witch. Another time, we had done a bright clown costume segment, and I got a letter from one school in Cork with a picture of the entire school and teachers standing in the yard, every single one of them wearing the clown costume they’d watched me make the previous week!

Later, the instruction leaflets that the show released also proved a huge hit, and Mary went on to put together a How do You Do book for kids —  an instant bestseller. 

it doesn’t matter if it isn’t perfect or if you don’t follow the instructions perfectly, it is about having a go, trying things out, seeing where that takes you.

So what exactly made the show so special?

“The thing was that it wasn’t too long,” explains Mary modestly. “The kids would come in and throw their schoolbags into the hall and unwind before homework. There were also only RTÉ One and Two for the most part, so a lot of the Irish population had little else to watch. We also varied the crafts widely; we made dolls furniture, kites, tie-dye t-shirts. In fact, my daughter had no real interest in my work at the time, but only recently phoned me up to ask me about making tie-dye t-shirts during Covid restrictions!

It is amazing the satisfaction children get from making something out of nothing. Art can help them develop their creative skills. A lot gets handed to children on a plate these days and they don’t have to use their imaginations as much. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if it isn’t perfect or if you don’t follow the instructions perfectly, it is about having a go, trying things out, seeing where that takes you.” 

Life has taken Mary on few interesting twists of her own. After seven years on the show, she went on to work as the PR for Irish Horse Racing Ireland. Admittedly, a jump from making paper-mache lanterns. 

“My family was into racing,” Mary points out. “It was an extension of that hobby really. Then I took a side road and trained to be a barrister in my 50s and practiced for a few years.” 

Today, she has her own business, Mary Fitzgerald PR where she mainly looks after corporate and consumer clients.

Mary believes that the inclination we all had to create during lockdown was what prompted one of her former fans to petition RTÉ to rerun her shows on the Player. 

“When lockdown came, a guy in Limerick, a lecturer I believe, had watched my show as child. He started a twitter campaign to bring back the shows to help keep kids busy during lockdown. That’s why the tapes were taken out of the archives. We finally have new technology to put them out on the airwaves again. They are going to put more out for Halloween and Christmas but unfortunately a lot of the tapes were wiped, which is a terrible thing when you think about it. Programmes then were recorded on film, which was very expensive. But of the ones that have been aired, I’ve had a very good reaction.

“I mean, if you look at Mary Berry, she had her cooking programmes years ago and has now made a brilliant comeback. I’d love to go back and do something creative again, but the only way to find out would be to do maybe 8-10 programmes and put them out and see what people thought.” 

So if RTÉ called you up and asked you to come back, would you really?

“In principle, I would, yes. I enjoyed it so much. I’d obviously look for more help, but I loved it. If they thought there was the appetite out there, and it was good to get children’s heads out of their phones for 15 minutes a day, then of course, I’d be happy to do it!” 

Read More

5 things kids of today might not know about The Den

Presenter Mary Fitzgerald on the set of 'How Do You Do' in 1989.

Devils’ Halloween Outfit 

What you need: 

Garden stick, stapler, belt, glue, thin cardboard, thick elastic, sticky tape, tin foil, rope or thick string, red card.

  • Step One: For the devil’s ears, place a dinner plate on red card. Draw around it to make a circle and cut it out.
  • Step Two: Cut the circle in half. Fold each half into a cone and fasten with a stapler or sticky tape. Make a small hole at either side of each cone with a scissors. Thread a piece of elastic to fit around your head, through the holes and tie.
  • Step Three: For the tail, fold one end of the rope into a small loop and fasten with sticky tape. Draw an arrowhead on red card, cut out and stick to the other end of the rope. To wear the tail, put a belt through the loop and fasten around your waist.
  • Step Four: Now draw a three-pronged fork on cardboard and cut it out. Use sticky tape to attach it to the garden stick.
  • Step Five: Tear strips of tin foil and wrap around the stick and fork until completely covered.
  • Wear red or black clothes when dressing up as a devil.

Painted bottles 

What you need: 

Empty bottles and jars, e.g. jam jars, wine bottles, sauce jars, poster paint and soap or powder paint, gloss paint, paintbrushes, glue, scissors, glitter, newspaper 

  • Step One: Clean and wash empty bottles. Paint them all over on the outside using poster or powder paint mixed with soap or gloss paint. You can also paint the bottles on the inside by swirling paint inside the bottle using household gloss paint. Leave bottles to dry. Do not decorate until completely dry.
  • Step Two: You can leave the bottles plain or paint a funny face on it. Why not decorate the top of the jar with a bow or add other symbols like flowers.
  • Step Three: With an empty sauce bottle, paint it all over and let it dry. Paint a strawberry on it or tie a ribbon and bow. Maybe write a message or paint someone’s name on it and gift it to them with a flower stuck inside.
  • Step Four: You can also dab on blobs here and there with a brush, or add squiggles. To add glitter to a bottle, sprinkle a little on newspaper, cover the painted bottle with glue and roll it on the glitter in the newspaper. Shake off excess glitter and leave to dry.

All these bottles can be used for holding pens and pencils or flowers.

LIFE Mary Fitzgerald: The kids would stand around the piano and ‘feel’ the music Before wielding pipe cleaners, egg cartons and empty toilet rolls on classic RTE children’s series How Do You Do? in the 1980s, Mary Fitzgerald taught deaf youngsters — but she soon found she had to be creative during conversation. Interview by Larissa Nolan Sunday June 28 2020, The Sunday Times

I started out life as a primary school teacher and my first job was at Loreto College in Dublin’s Foxrock. I was only about 20 — so young that most of the parents thought I was someone from the senior school. I taught children arts and crafts. Back then, there wasn’t much credence given to learning to be creative and use your imagination, but now people see the great value in it.

I then answered an advertisement to work for St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls in Cabra. I went along, did the interview, and got accepted. They tried me out for a while — had a look at me to see if I was suitable to be trained up — then sent me to University College Dublin to study as a teacher for the deaf.

I knew nothing about deaf children, nor had I ever known or met a person who was deaf or hard of hearing. What appealed to me was the challenge. It was such a complete change.

The average class size in Dublin primary schools at the time was 30 to 40 children, but at St Mary’s I had just six or seven. It meant that I could give them hands-on care and they had my full attention. At that time the method was to teach deaf children to lip-read and use their voices. We didn’t teach sign language: the focus was on helping them to live in the hearing world. That focus has since changed, with the deaf community saying that signing is their natural first language.

In the class, we sat at a big horseshoe-shaped desk, all of us plugged into the same system, with hearing aids, and I had a microphone. The set-up would have been very suitable for social distancing: all the children were about two metres apart and the classrooms were big and airy, with plenty of room and good spaces between people.

The children were very proficient at lip-reading. If another teacher came in to see if I was going for a drink after work, or for a quick coffee, we would have to turn our backs to talk or else they would know what we were saying. When the Prince of Wales married Diana in 1981 and the wedding was shown on TV, they were all able to tell me what the royal family had been saying on the balcony. They were great for gossip — they knew exactly what was happening in school, and to whom.

We would do reading, writing and maths: the ultimate aim was that they would go on to college and the same career roles as hearing students. The biggest difference between teaching hearing and non-hearing children was that you would go into a classroom and it would be silent. There’s always a level of chat in classrooms, but in a deaf class, it is the silence you notice first of all. You are usually encouraging children to keep quiet — in a deaf classroom you’re telling them to talk.

I remember all my students. One of them, Olive, was in a car accident when she was two years old, and lost her hearing as a result. She qualified as a chartered accountant. I was thrilled at that news.

Fitzgerald on the set of children’s craft show How Do You Do in 1990

RTÉ ARCHIVE

Music was a challenge. It is difficult to teach it to deaf children. I worked with a music teacher and we would bring them into a hall, play a song on the piano, and they would all stand around it and feel the music. It was learning music through vibrations; the different vibrations came up their arms and would give them an idea of what the notes were.

I only taught them one song in the whole year and that was a long process — a huge achievement. They had to learn the words and put a sound to it. The song I taught them was The Creepy Crawly Caterpillar.

When RTE offered me an audition for a slot on youth programme Anything Goes, I said I could do arts-and-crafts slots and stories. One of the tasks was to sing a song for under-10s, and illustrate it. It was a no-brainer for me. I had been doing The Creepy Crawly Caterpillar for a year and had made a huge green caterpillar in the classroom, as well as hats for all the kids. I replicated that for RTE and I got the job.

I tried over the years to get children’s programming in RTE to include deaf kids. When I moved on to my own show, How Do You Do? [the children’s make-and-do series appeared on the channel during the late 1980s and early 1990s and some episodes are currently being re-run on RTE Player], I managed to adapt some of it for deaf children. We did drama and mime and subtitled the programme. They were the first — and possibly only — children’s programmes made specifically for deaf children by RTE.

How Do You Do? is on RTE Player

How did she do that? Life turns into one big reinvention for Mary

Former RTE star Mary Fitzgerald is bringing nostalgia back to our screens with the return of her iconic children’s show How Do You Do- a return for a broadcaster who has been the queen of reinvention in her own life.

She’s back: Now you can relive the magic of making any number of wonderful things from papier-mache and pipe cleaners with children’s TV icon Mary Fitzgerald with 30-year-old episodes of ‘How Do You Do’ on the RTE Player. Photo: Mark Condren

She became one of the nation’s best-loved children’s presenters on How Do You Do – and now episodes are available on the RTE Player after a more than 30-year hiatus. This is allowing a new generation to discover the joys of papier-mache and pipe cleaners.

The Kilkenny presenter hasn’t been idle since leaving the small screen as she switched gears into PR to bring Ladies Day to Irish racing, before training as a barrister in her 50s.

Back in the 1980s she achieved popstar levels of fame when she went from being a primary school teacher for deaf children to fronting Anything Goes, one of the highest rated programmes on television.

“It had huge ratings. It was two-channel land. We were like popstars then, I hate to say that, it sounds a bit egotistical, but we led the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.

“I remember going to a restaurant in Dingle and the restaurant couldn’t serve people because so many people were queuing outside the door because they knew I was inside. It was mad.”

It was a baptism of fire for the young teacher who had sent a letter to Montrose offering her services if the station decided to go for educational TV.

“I got no training. I rocked up to RTE, I’d one rehearsal on a Saturday evening and the following week I was live on television I didn’t know which cameras I was supposed to look at.

“And there was no autocue. You had to learn all your lines.”

During the heydays of the 1980s, the former teacher would regularly have the likes of U2 and Thin Lizzy coming into the studio to film live slots on Anything Goes.

“We met them all – Boy George, Toyah Wilcox, Bono, they all came in.

“Bono and those were beginning to take off and they would come in and be very polite and get their photo taken with you, but they had managers with them. They were sort of wheeled in and out.”

Phil Lynott stands out in her memory.

“I was quite a nervous presenter and he gave me great confidence, saying ‘keep doing it and you’ll get better every week’.

“He was brilliant, someone like him at the time who was a big star to take time to talk to me, I was a 22-year-old, I just remember him being very encouraging. Boy George was another person who was great fun.”

Roald Dahl wrote her a letter. He was impressed when she asked him about the little-known fact that he had written a Bond movie script. “He sent me a lovely letter which I still have.”

She is delighted to see a new generation of children learning how to get to grips with homemade kites and sock puppets.

“When Anything Goes ended, I got my own series How Do You Do which is now back on the RTE Player.

“I brought out two books. That year was 1990 and Gay Byrne’s autobiography was the No. 1 bestselling book and I was No. 2.”

Her penchant for arts and crafts on screen grew out of her brief teaching career.

She said: “I wrote into RTE and said if you’re ever doing educational type programmes, I’d love to be considered as a researcher.

“Out of the blue I got a letter to audition for Anything Goes.”

After more than a decade of children’s shows, she landed her dream show, but Ireland’s astounding run in Eurovision in the 1990s essentially put the death knell on that show being renewed for a second season.

“My real interest was in fine art and antiques and I did a show called Treasure Ireland.

“It was kind of like an Antique Roadshow-cum-Bargain Hunt, but Ireland kept winning the Eurovision during those years, so any money went into staging the Eurovision.

“So, as they say What’s Another Year for Johnny Logan and What’s Another Career where I’m concerned.

“I was dying to do adult programmes but because in a way I got typecast as a young people’s presenter, I felt it was time to do something different.”

Her next reinvention couldn’t have been further away from her children’s TV shows as she decided to answer an ad for a job as a PR manager for the Irish Horse Racing Authority which is now known as Horse Racing Ireland

“My job was to get more people to go racing as then it was very much a male-orientated sport.

“At that time, I was actually the person who brought in – whether it’s a good or bad thing at this stage – the Best Dressed Lady competitions.

“Now there is best dressed men, best dressed children, best dressed family. I love fashion and style.”

After six years, when the Horse Racing Authority moved to Kildare, she decided to change careers again to accommodate raising her young daughter, Caroline, in Dublin

“Following on from that I set up my own PR and event company which I’m still running.”

But in the meantime, there was a stop-off at law school to become a barrister.

“I was in my 50s, I actually wasn’t the oldest in the class, there were people in their 60s and 70s and one guy even in his 80s, but the majority were 25 upwards.

“I just have one daughter, Caroline, and my daughter grew up and I just felt I wasn’t going to just sit at home and be one of those ladies who lunches.

“I appeared in the District Court right up to the Supreme Court, doing mainly commercial and civil law.

“I loved it but it’s hard to make a living because when you’re starting later in life, it just takes time to build up a practice.”

She also runs a Horses for Courses course which gives people a complete A to Z on the horseracing industry along with her PR and events company.

And she is still recognised all the time by a whole generation who grew up watching her brand of old-fashioned, wholesome fun.

“The children who used to watch me are now adults.

“On nights out, say in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, especially around Christmas, people send over drinks saying thanks for making my childhood a special place or that they have fond memories.”

‘How Do You Do’ is now available on the RTE Player.

Article written by Lynne Kelleher and published in the Sunday Independent, 14 June 2020