Leading civil servant and key energy player

Kevin O'Leary: Kevin O'Leary, who died in Dublin on his 85th birthday, was one of Ireland's leading civil servants variously…

 Kevin O'Leary:Kevin O'Leary, who died in Dublin on his 85th birthday, was one of Ireland's leading civil servants variously serving some of the country's most senior politicians, including Desmond O'Malley, George Colley, Michael O'Leary, Albert Reynolds, John Bruton and Dick Spring.

He was secretary general of the departments of energy and industry from 1979 to 1984.

J. Kevin O'Leary was born in Clonroche, Co Wexford, and as a child, won a scholarship to St Peter's College in Wexford. His contribution to the public service was particularly noteworthy. Initially as assistant secretary in the Department of Industry and Commerce, then from 1979 to 1984 as the secretary of the newly formed Department of Energy, Kevin O'Leary was the key player at the most critical time to date for Ireland's energy policy, 1977 to 1984.

For Kevin public service was a profound privilege and challenge. His duty was not only to his minister but also to the people. Decisions were for ministers, but ministerial preference did not absolve the public service of its duty - dispassionately, professionally and competently to advise and inform on proposed courses of action, and monitor and report on the progress towards goals.

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He was always concerned at the implications of the actions of the State and of its agencies for the ordinary citizen who paid the price if things went wrong.

The landscape at that time was strewn with unfortunate examples of cost escalation: Irish Steel, Net (the State fertiliser manufacturer), and Dart, Dublin's rapid transport rail system.

But he did not allow these to become an excuse for inaction and policy paralysis.

The energy scene of late 1970s was particularluy challenging. Oil prices had increased eight-fold in a decade, there were oil-tanker drivers' disputes, crises in Iran, an imploding town gas industry, industrial relations problems at ESB, power blackouts, the withdrawal of the major oil companies from refining in Ireland, the proposal for a nuclear power station at Carnsore in Co Wexford.

These were the stuff of the challenges he faced. And in 1981 he took over additional responsibility for industrial policy and was active in the preparation of the first White Paper on industrial policy in 1983.

Kevin O'Leary had a great respect for the office of minister. He worked at the most senior levels with many influential ministers, among them Desmond O'Malley, George Colley, Michael O'Leary, Albert Reynolds, John Bruton and Dick Spring. Three were tánaiste at the time, and two of whom later became taoiseach.

Their confidence in him enabled him to be both pro-active and effective as secretary. He sought no personal aggrandisement - he saw the public credit as the domain of his minister.

For Kevin, ministerial power was exercised in trust, and the trust was the achievement of progress for the public good.

During his career, he was charged with responsibility for some of the biggest commercial and non commercial semi-State agencies when they faced unprecedented challenges. To inform urgent decisions and actions, and to avoid recurrence of past mistakes, he enhanced the traditional skills in the department by recruiting economic, engineering and scientific expertise.

He was in the vanguard of the senior civil servants who rejected the notion that government departments (other than the Department of Finance, of course) should be the unquestioning conduits of semi-State proposals to ministers and government.

Kevin admired the professionalism and skills of the agencies answerable to his minister, particularly the ESB and IDA (Industrial Development Authority). But at a time when the Department of Transport was being styled "the downtown office of Aer Lingus", Kevin was encouraging ministers to adopt a supportive but questioning approach to their proposals.

Kevin O'Leary strongly promoted diversification of energy supply, provided it contributed to a more economic and affordable energy in the future.

He oversaw a major diversification from oil-dominated energy supply to a strategy based on coal, natural gas oil and turf. This reduced oil dependence from over 80 per cent in 1979 to 35 per cent by 1985.

In defiance of engineering, industry and energy agency lobbying, in December 1979 he submitted papers to George Colley demonstrating that the nuclear station in Carnsore should be abandoned as uneconomic.

He proposed as an alternative a major switch from oil to generation with natural gas, coal and turf, and replacement of oil for heating purposes with natural gas through the development of natural gas distribution through town gas companies. And he initiated pilot projects in wind and alternative energy.

He also devoted considerable time and attention to the successful defence of the taxpayer against the record-breaking litigation flowing from the Bula affair which he inherited.

Once the policy to retain Whitegate as an operational refinery was taken by the government, he successfully led efforts to ensure that the project overcame challenges in the Irish and European courts in the cases Campus Oil V the Minister for Energy.

On Northern Ireland, he was ahead of his time. He advanced with ministers the idea of sharing Kinsale Gas with the North. Traditional administrators and industry interests were against it, but he believed an integrated natural gas supply system would be beneficial to both parts of Ireland, and would have longer term supply benefits.

An arrangement was pursued by Albert Reynolds and concluded by John Bruton, but it perished in the maelstrom of the UK miners' strike, when permanent reductions in price were disingenuously sought on the basis of the transient movements in heavy fuel oil prices at that time.

In 1981, responsibility for industrial policy was added to his portfolio when Michael O'Leary became tánaiste and minister for industry and energy. Kevin then assumed responsibility for the IDA.

As a result, he was active in the preparation of the first White Paper on industrial policy, which set employment and exports as prime objectives and emphasised the importance of indigenous and resource industry, as complementary to the IDA's work with the overseas multinationals.

Kevin was as self effacing in the conduct of his public duty as was possible for a man in his position to be at a time when energy dominated the political and economic landscape.

He was above all effective and gentle. The great issues of his time and responsibility were all subject by him to the litmus test of their likely impact on the people and society.

Kevin O'Leary's family was central to his life. He was extremely proud of them and their achievements. He catalogued the progress of his grandchildren. He was modestly but immensely proud of his Wexford roots, of the time he spent in the Army during the emergency, of his position in public service.

He retired and spent more time with his beloved wife, Róisín, his daughters Kalanne, Aisling, Cliodhna and their families and to pursue his interest in horticulture and the natural world.

He will be missed greatly by friends and family. The attendance at his funeral in St Patrick's Church in Skerries, Co Dublin, showed the respect with which he was held in his community.

• Kevin O'Leary: born February 2nd, 1922; died February 2nd, 2007