Eoin Ó'Cionna
Eoin Ó Cionna
(1921 - 2010)
The Irish Academy of Engineering would like to mark the passing of a founding member of the Academy and a Past President of Engineers Ireland - Mr. Eoin Ó'Cionna who died recently.
Eoin, after school in Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, was a student in UCD. He graduated in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in 1943. He worked in the UK, initially, before joining the family firm of J.A. Kenny and Partners, a leading M&E consulting practice based in Dublin. Tim Ó'Brien (RIP) became a partner of Eoin's shortly after.
Later the practice opened an office in Galway. Micheál MacDonnachadha (RIP) became a partner in the 50's in charge of the Galway office. That office worked, inter alia, on the new Galway Regional Hospital and its many extensions in the following decades.
Heavey Kenny Associates, based in Galway, succeeded J.A. Kenny and Partners in 1989. Eddie Heavey knew Eoin for 40 years as a boss, mentor and friend, having worked closely with him in Dublin in the 1970's on the hospital projects in Ballinasloe and Sligo. He greatly valued Eoin's excellent technical knowledge and ability and his generosity in sharing knowledge with others
Energy Visionary
Eoin was, in many ways, an engineering visionary and was one of the earliest engineers in the country to truly appreciate the importance of energy efficiency and energy security as far back as the 1960’s - topics that still exercise engineering minds in Ireland to this day.
District heating
The chimney and central boiler house (40MWth) in Ballymun shown below (photo April 2010) is still in use today 45 years on from when Eoin first oversaw the design and construction in the mid 1960’s. It is a legacy to Ireland’s first ambitious attempts to construct affordable centrally heated local authority housing. The system was designed to supply heating to 8,000 -10,000 inhabitants.
It was a most ambitious project with the central boiler house serving some 3000 flats and individual two storey dwellings. It has given Eoin cause to smile in his latter years when various commentators have queried why Ireland could not arrange its energy affairs more efficiently e.g. along the lines of the continental European lines using the district heating model!
Energy Efficiency
Eoin was very active in the field of energy efficiency in the early 1970’s. This work accelerated greatly in 1973 at the time of the first oil crisis when he and his colleagues conducted many energy audits and looked for more efficient ways to use energy for his many Clients in the public and private sector.
Building Services
Eoin and his partner Tim Ó Brien and their staff of engineers in Dublin and Galway made a major contribution to the design of the mechanical and electrical services for many of Ireland’s public buildings. Major commissions included services design for the Mater Hospital (below) and the UCD Arts Block
Other projects included The National Mint in Sandyford, the Centralised Hospital Laundry Complex Rathfarnham, Portlaoise Prison, Dublin Airport Boiler House and many more. He worked in design teams with many of the leading architectural and structural engineering practices of the time.
He was a perfectionist and, a bit like a great movie director, there were many of his designs which ended up on the cutting room floor in Eoin’s quest for a better solution for his Client. He often worked late into the night to the consternation of his junior support staff and their significant others not to mention his own family.
Ireland Process Industry- 1970’s and 80’s
In the 1970’s he recognised that there were new engineering skills needed to service a growing manufacturing industry. He set up a group within J.A. Kenny and Partners and hired a number of chemical engineers. They, together with his mechanical and electrical engineers, undertook industrial projects including the process design of the Cara Partners pharma plant on Little Island in Cork. That project was implemented in cooperation with E.G. Pettit & Co, Cork.
Cork Office
The work in the Cork area led to the setting up of an office in Cork in 1976 headed up by Tom Whelan. Clients of the Cork office included multinational firms such as Alcatel, Tungsram, Mistsui Denman, Gaeleo and many others and public sector Clients such as the OPW.
Energy Infrastructure
In 1981 and 1982 J. A. Kenny & Partners, in association with Gasunie from the Netherlands, provided detailing and other engineering services to the main contractor laying the Cork Dublin Pipeline. This 600 mm diameter pipeline (204 km long) remains a main backbone of Ireland’s natural gas system.
International Projects
J.A. Kenny and Partners, together with agricultural specialist Alexander Dalgety, designed and supervised the building of two solvent extraction plants for producing a natural insecticide (pyrethrum) in the highlands of Tanzania and Papua New Guinea. The latter plant was entirely prefabricated in Ireland being designed in a modular fashion to facilitate shipping in containers. Eoin's good friend Bernard Wood supervised the construction and start up of the New Guinea plant.
Professional Engineering Institutions
Eoin believed deeply in the profession of engineering and the importance of the professional engineering bodies. He devoted much of his time outside the office to the affairs of the many engineering institutions with whom he was associated throughout his life.
He was an active member of the Association of Consulting Engineers and was President of ACEI in 1966 and 1967.
He was a long standing and highly active member of Engineers Ireland and was a former Chairman of the Energy Division. He was President of IEI in 1982-1983.
The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) in the UK elected Eoin Ó Cionna as their President in 1986.
Eoin was a founding member of the Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE).
Engineering Education
At J.A. Kenny & Partner, Eoin with the other partners fostered the careers of many graduate engineers and technicians and draftsmen. In many cases the firm funded the fees of young persons attending building services courses in Bolton Street and other institutions.
Eoin not only contributed to the engineering profession in his own right but by his example ensured that his engineering skills are carried on by his own family. No fewer than five of Eoin’s children graduated in engineering.
An Gaeilge
Bhí árd mheas riamh ag Eoin ar an nGaeilge and ar chultúr Gaelach. Dá chómharta sin, chaith sé féin agus a chlann laethanta saoire gach Samhradh in nGaeltacht Chonamara.
Tá suim and spéis sa teanga agus sa chultúr anamúil agus bríomhar fós i measc a chlainne.
Bhí Eoin ina bhall den Roth, an Roinn Gaelach de Chumann na n-Innealtóirí, a bunaíodh chun aidhmeanna ghairmiúla na h-Innealtóireachta a chur chun cinn tri mheán na Gaeilge.
Aireoimis Eoin uainn san saol atá romhainn.
Final Words
Eoin is survived by his wife Eibhlín, who lectured in physics in the Royal College of Surgeons until 1990 and by his children Máire Cristín (Galway), Orna (London), John /Eoin (London), Síle (Chicago), Mícheál (Galway), Pádhraic (New York), and his sons-in-lay and daughters in law and eight grandchildren. Eoin's daughter Helen pre-deceased him.
Tom Cleary
