A RETIRED driver for the Irish embassy in Vietnam has been driven the length and breadth of Ireland by past and present embassy staff.
After more than 20 years working for the embassy, Hung Le Viet decided to mark his retirement with a trip to Ireland, but he wasn’t to know the high esteem in which he is held, or the lengths that former colleagues would go to make his stay a memorable one.
Garvan McCann, who retired to Castletownbere after more than 25 years working in Foreign Affairs, including a four-year stint in Vietnam from 2010 to 2014, told The Southern Star all about the itinerary that even Fáilte Ireland would have described as impressive.
Ever since the Irish embassy was established in Hanoi in 2005, Mr Hung has transported every Irish official, every embassy member of staff and every minister. He even met President Michael D Higgins.
Funding and support for the non-stop itinerary was privately and entirely at the behest of 25 Department of Foreign Affairs staff who have known and worked with Mr Hung.
He began his visit, staying with friends in Dublin, and almost every day someone came to take him somewhere.
One person brought Mr Hung to the Boyne Valley and the Hill of Slane; another person brought him to Howth; and another brought him to Malahide Castle.
Mr Hung was treated to the Guinness Experience in Dublin, and then he journeyed south to Ballydehob and Castletownbere in West Cork.
Friends brought him to Mizen Head, Bantry House and Glengarriff, as well as Allihies and Dursey.
While in Beara, he played his first ever game of bingo at the Caha Centre in Adrigole. ‘Alas,’ Garvan McCann said, ‘he didn’t win anything!’
Afterwards, he went to Limerick, and was brought to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.
Then, it was back to Dublin, last weekend, where he was brought on the Viking Trail and to the Phoenix Park.
On the Monday, Mr Hung returned to Cork, where he spent a couple of days, before returning to Dublin, and Vietnam on Saturday.
