One year into her seven-year contract, Ann McGuinness, the State's first and only female county manager, believes more strongly than ever in the importance of local government.
The modest Dubliner took over what she described as the task of chief executive of Westmeath County Council on January 4th last, making history because of her gender.
Not that this matters a whit to her.
She does not believe there is a "glass ceiling" in local government, preventing the rise of women to the top job of running the county councils.
"I have never experienced a glass ceiling and I suspect that I will not hold this unique position as the first woman county manager for too long. There are plenty of good people coming along," she said.
She said the councillors and the staff of the council had not treated her any differently because of her gender and this had helped her settle in very quickly to the job.
She began her civil service career in the Department of the Environment, ending up in a very senior position in the housing division. Her work there will stand to her in Westmeath.
"When the job came up in Westmeath I applied for it because I wanted to do it and I have a great love and I suppose, a knowledge of the county because of the River Shannon," she said.
"When I was young we used to holiday in Athlone and later when I married and had kids of my own we used to sail on Lough Ree. It is a fabulous place with the most wonderful lakeland scenery."
"The Shannon is a marvellous resource, not just for midlanders but for the entire country. It is one of the great treasures of Ireland and I would like to keep is so," she said.
Maintaining the quality of water in the Shannon and protecting it from further damage is one of her main aims and she welcomed the role, which goes with the job of running the county.
Because the Shannon washes the shores of a large part of her territory, it is a subject that comes up frequently at council meetings which Ms McGuinness said she enjoys attending.
"The discussions can be very lively and the councillors are very well informed about what is going on in the county. They are, if you like, the board of directors of the company we run," she said.
The monthly meetings of the council take place on the last Monday of every month where Ms McGuinness has the company of only one other woman in the chamber, Labour councillor Betty Doran.
That "company" has an annual budget of around £25 million, which is spent on housing, sanitation, roads, and a wide range of other activities, such as the promotion of arts and culture, which most people don't normally associate with councils. Ms McGuinness and her council, for instance, have responsibility for maintaining the local fire fighting service and the libraries. They make sure water supplies are available and are clean.
They have a public health role as well and a duty to provide housing and maintain footpaths and make sure the rubbish is taken away every week and that there is no litter on the streets.
She relishes the council's role in promoting arts and culture and its input into job creation in an area which is still mainly rural but has a need of jobs.
Recently the National Roads Authority and the council have put forward options for a major link between Kinnegad and Athlone. Currently, Ms McGuinness is sounding out opinions on the various routes being suggested.
This consultative process is ongoing and involves meeting and sampling the opinions of local people and taking on board the decision of the council on the matter for implementation.
While for a time she was very familiar with the road to Mullingar, she now lives in Athlone and it is her husband Neil, an executive in IBEC based in Dublin, who is the commuter. The couple have two grown-up children, a boy and girl.
Ann McGuinness has been struck by the difference in attitudes between the public and local government bodies in Westmeath and in Dublin, her native county.
"While I accept that Dublin is a city and there are larger numbers of people to be catered for, there is a greater closeness and awareness of local government in provincial areas generally than in the cities, in my view," she said. One of the reasons this might be so, she said, was that rural people, in general, appear to be more politicised than their urban counterparts.
Litter is one of the areas where the manager feels she can make an impact on the county and since her arrival she has initiated a number of projects to stamp out littering.
The latest of these was the introduction for the first time of a Christmas tree shredding scheme for the county which was promoted by launching a competition in which people could take part.
"Perhaps it is because I am a woman that I am very interested in keeping the place as tidy but I don't believe that is true either. Litter is offensive to the eye and it's dirty and we must do something about it," she said.
Since her arrival in the county a number of significant court cases have been taken by the council and the message is seeping through to the public that Westmeath is going to be a litter-free zone.
Meanwhile, she will continue to "juggle" the finances of the county to ensure the funding can cover as many areas as possible and deliver the best possible service to the 63,236 people who live in Westmeath.