When the bells rang to herald the much-hyped millennium, there was great celebration in the Smyth household. With 23 years as a school principal under his belt, Harry Smyth had decided to take early retirement and January 1st, 2001, marked the start of the rest of his life.

Maybe it was millennium madness and the fact that there was an air of change about, but I decided, at 57 and a half, to call it a day, he says. I had already made up my mind to go at 60 because I always believed you should quit while you were still doing a good job. I also thought that if I retired that little bit earlier it might afford me a better opportunity to find something else to do.

Harry Smyth was appointed principal of Brackenstown school in Swords in his mid-30s. It is a senior co-educational school with a staff of 24 and 600 pupils. Before going to Brackenstown, he taught in Ballymun.

"I was long enough around teaching to know that it is possible to stay in the job too long and I often thought it was sad to see people who had been very good teachers in their day losing their grasp," he says.

Harry Smyth first become interested in IT about 10 years ago. He did a number of courses, started using a computer daily and set up a computer facility for students. He subsequently became interested in programming, studied for a diploma in networking technologies and thought it might be possible to source some teaching work in this area. His hunch was correct.

Smyth was subsequently approached to become a tutor by ABM, a Swords-based computer training company which specialises in teaching adults. The company works a lot with the teaching profession and one of its founders, Tony Brady, is himself a former teacher.

"I had only retired a few months when I was approached by ABM, says Smyth. They were running a course for primary-school teachers and I was asked to teach it. ABM likes to use teachers to deliver courses to teachers because you understand the environment in which the training will be used. I am very pleased with how things have worked out. I teach about 12 hours a week and I'm enjoying it a lot, says Smyth, who also admits that having more free time has given him the opportunity to work on reducing his golf handicap.