Tributes have been paid by politicians and colleagues following the retirement of a Laois County Council official after 40 years of service.
Evelyn Reddin, from Raheen, will officially sign out of the building following a presentation to her later on Friday.
Evelyn, who is married to Danny and has two children, Evan and Jayne, served in a range of positions throughout her civil service life.
She retires as the Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Laois with responsibility for Economic Development and Tourism – a role she has held since 2014.
Here, Evelyn worked with a dedicated team to provide an enhanced portfolio of services to new and existing businesses in the county.
They also worked to promote enterprise and economic development throughout Laois, stimulating the creation of 777 LEO supported jobs since April 2014.
Under the 2012 Action Plan for jobs the former County Enterprise Boards were abolished and the Local Enterprise Offices were established within the Local Authorities.
Evelyn was responsible for implementing the change over in Laois and delivering an enhanced, expanded and more integrated support service for micro and small business in the county.
At Monday’s monthly meeting of Laois County Council, Councillors were informed about Reddin’s retirement.
The tributes were led by Laois County Council CEO Michael Rainey who spoke about her in his management report.
Photo: Alf Harvey.
He said: “I just want to take this opportunity to wish Evelyn Reddin well in her soon retirement, which is coming up very soon.
“I want to thank her for her commitment to supporting the enterprise, and the enterprise and the business in this county.
“We’ve been very lucky to have Evelyn as a very loyal servant, both to Laois County Council and to the business community in this county, and I wish her well in her retirement.”
Caoithearlach of Laois County Council, Fine Gael’s Barry Walsh, also joined in.
He said: “I’d just like to join in with the county manager as well on Evelyn Reddin, who’s leaving the building.
“Evelyn has done an awful lot of work for enterprise economic development in this county, but also has had a major input in tourism as well.”
Picture: Alf Harvey.
Fianna Fail’s John Joe Fennelly added: “I just wanted to wish Evelyn the very best with her retirement.
“I remember starting here in 1999 and that was on the old county enterprise board at the time.
“Evelyn was a great help to me over the years and her knowledge will certainly be missed.”
Evelyn is also a Director of the Portlaoise Innovation Centre DAC and Portlaoise Enterprise Centre CLG.
Patricia Frayne, who is the Co-ordinator of Portlaoise Enterprise Centre, also paid tribute to Evelyn.
She said: “On behalf of everyone at Portlaoise Enterprise Centre, I would like to extend our best wishes to Evelyn on her retirement.
“Evelyn has served as a director of Portlaoise Enterprise Centre for over ten years, during which time she made a significant contribution to the development of the Centre through her consistent leadership, sound judgment and genuine dedication.
Picture: Alf Harvey.
“She was also highly supportive of our client businesses through her role as Head of Enterprise in the Laois Local Enterprise Office.
“We will miss Evelyn’s valuable contributions to our board meetings and wish her all the best for a happy and well-earned retirement.”
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