A link with the formative years of the State was severed recently with the passing of Niall O'Brien, at the age of 93, an age he might never have reached because as a boy he narrowly escaped death in the Limerick Fever Hospital at the height of the post-first World War flu epidemic.
For some reason he was being denied food and felt himself sinking. The patient in the next bed was delivered a meal but was found to be dead. When the nurse removed the corpse, he downed the uneaten dinner and this, he claimed, triggered his recovery.
Assistant Secretary of the former Department of Transport and Power Niall began his career in the 1920s as secretary to the German engineers from Siemens-Schuckert, building the hydro-electric dam at Ardnacrusha. The Shannon Scheme generated surplus power and Dr James Drumm persuaded the Government that the railways might run on electricity using rapid charging batteries. O'Brien became secretary to the Drumm Battery Company - an early example of State-sponsored applied scientific research.
Unfortunately, the production of a battery that could compete with steam or internal combustion defeated Drumm although four experimental battery-powered coaches went into operation and ran on the Bray-Harcourt Street line up to 1948.
With the onset of the Emergency he moved to the supplies division of the Department of Industry and Commerce which operated the rationing system. In these years the country came close to being a State-run economy.
His lifestyle was typical of many of his contemporaries during those frugal years. He cut his own turf in the Dublin Mountains, maintained an allotment, cycled to work and acted shoe repairer to the family.
His sojourn in Transport and Power was during a period when Government policy favoured semi-State companies with local transport monopolies. Liberalisation even in the haulage sector was slow. This was a frustrating time for someone who was sympathetic to a loosening up of the market.
He was involved in the establishment of the industrial free trade zone at Shannon and later in the Shannon Development Company. In co-operation with colleagues from SFADCO he helped the UN draw up plans for free trade zones in Egypt, the Philippines and Cyprus.
In his final years in Transport and Power he represented Ireland at Eurocontrol and was president before he retired. He was a lifelong member of the Vincent de Paul. A keen oarsman in his youth in Limerick, he continued to row in Dublin and was one of the last surviving members of the now defunct Dolphin Rowing Club located at Ringsend.
He was a dedicated servant of the State and belonged to a generation who saw their service to the young nation as a vocation. He was a lover of the Irish language and even in his 90s would speak it when given an opportunity.
Apart from grandchildren and great grandchildren, he leaves his wife Olivia Crowley O'Brien, three sons, Fergus, Terence and Niallog (Columban Fathers, Philippines). His daughter Niamh Smyth predeceased him.
Ar dheis DΘ Go raibh a anam.
T.O'B.