'Ronan is not only a consummate professional but also the definition of a perfect gentleman'

Few in the Irish media industry - at local and national level - have had or could hope to have the longevity Ronan Dodd has enjoyed in journalism.

It’s clear from working with him over the last few years that he is devoted to his craft.

He could produce a newspaper page to the highest standard or bang out a 500 word court report just as easy.

He left no stone unturned in developing his skillset and that applies across print and online.

Ronan was just as comfortable and content to be doing the Nenagh town page and filling it with community news, as he was breaking an exclusive story on the front page or doorstepping political heavyweights.

He could do it all, although you’d be hard-pressed to get him to go to a hurling match to do up a report for the sports section.

His coverage - and the team’s coverage - around the death of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan epitomises exactly what the Tipperary Star is losing.

He led the way with the reporting in the paper as well as on tipperarylive.ie and nenaghlive.ie and was a wonderful support to others.

Ronan is a man with an encyclopaedic local knowledge and knows everyone in his town.

It’s a prerequisite for being a great local journalist, it takes decades to build-up, countless phone calls and conversations and meet-ups, but Ronan had that credibility in the bank with readers and people trusted him with their stories and their community news.

He has achieved everything there is to achieve and reached the very top in his career as Editor.

Anyone who saw his interview on RTÉ’s Six One News - when he spoke so eloquently about Shane and the town of Nenagh - could be forgiven for thinking that he could have gotten to the very top of RTÉ had he given a TV career some consideration.

He was simply outstanding during the interview and as always, completely unflappable.

Over his long career he covered a wide range of stories.

Many of these markings Ronan mentions above, and they showcase just how varied his career was and some of the huge stories he had the privilege to report on.

But a local journalist’s real strength is in their ability to cover court and council and Ronan covered those markings to the highest standard consistently over decades.

He is not only a consummate professional but is also the definition of a perfect gentleman.

Thank you, Ronan, for all you’ve done for the Tipperary Star and its team.

Enjoy your retirement, no one deserves to put their feet up more than you.

So, set down the pen and put away the notepad; your watch is over.