The veteran journalist and broadcaster Brian Farrell, is to retire from television.
At 75 years of age and after more than 40 years in broadcasting, during which time he became synonymous with the televised election count, he says he feels it's better to go "before I'm asked to".
In a documentary to be broadcast on RTÉ 1 tonight, looking back at his career, a clear affection and regard for former Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach Jack Lynch shines through.
The programme, Lights, Camera, Farrell! includes interviews with him, as well as with the political figures who have punctuated his career.
It includes interesting archive footage such as that of a fresh-faced Mary McAleese reporting from an election count.
The programme charts the growing influence of television on politics and the often fraught relationship between the two. There are milestones such as when Jack Lynch, in 1973, became the first Taoiseach to concede election defeat live on air.
Remembering some great historical "surprises" Farrell recalls when, as part of the "Spring Tide" of 1992, the moment Dr Moosajee Bhamjee was unexpectedly elected in Co Clare.
He says there were always surprises during long live broadcasts, such as when he delivered the breaking news of Mr Tiede Herrema's release in 1975.
Looking back on the massive Fianna Fáil election victory under Lynch in 1977, he says the reaction of Lynch off-air was prophetic.
"I said to him 'You must be very happy with these results. I mean you're going to have a massive majority.' And he said 'Well I'd be just as happy if it wasn't so big'.
"And he explained subsequently in an aside off-air. He said, 'If you have a huge majority it's much more difficult to keep discipline. If it's tight they'll behave themselves. If you're doing too well they'll cause trouble for you'.
Which indeed they did, because many of the newcomers were people whose hero wasn't really Jack Lynch. It was Charlie Haughey."
He has no plans for the immediate future other than to move from Dundrum to Bray, Co Wicklow, with his wife Marie Therese.
His paternal grandparents were from Wicklow, "so in a sense I'm going home" he says.
