Robert N Hayes
Robert N Hayes
(1926-2009)
President The Institution of Engineers of Ireland 1985 - 1986
The sad passing of Bob Hayes signalled the loss of an eminent man who in his time brought honour to the professions of engineering and management and who contributed very significantly to Ireland’s economic growth.
Bob was born in Cork and received his secondary education at Belvedere College Dublin. He studied Civil Engineering at UCD where he qualified with first honours in 1947. Following graduation he worked with civil engineering contractors and consulting engineers in Dublin before joining Dublin Corporation where he was engaged in the design and construction of major drainage, bridge and road schemes.
He left Dublin Corporation in 1960 to become engineering inspector with the then Department of Local Government on transportation studies, traffic and highway projects and bridges. During that period he also obtained a fellowship from the International Road Federation and studied transportation and management at Ohio State University, USA, where he obtained his MSc degree.
In 1967 he was appointed County Engineer with Cavan Co Council and became County Manager of Tipperary (SR) County Council in 1970 where he remained for five years. In the local authority service he was noted for his enterprise and drive and in that regard, he played a substantial role in attracting the major US chemical firm Merck Sharpe and Dohme to Clonmel.
In 1975, he took up an appointment as General Manager and Chief Executive of Dublin Port and Docks Board where he remained until his retirement. His time at Dublin Port was one of significant change and new developments. These included the building of the new headquarters for the Port Authority at the junction of East Wall Rd and Alexandra Rd, which integrated the Authority’s many departments under one roof for the first time in more than a century. In addition the creation of Dublin Cargo Handling Ltd as a sole stevedoring company in the deep-sea section of the port helped enormously in the rationalisation of dock working.
In that time of recession he introduced new marketing strategies - including the attraction of alternative traffic - which were very successful, and, on his retirement, in December 1989, he left behind him what has been described as “an efficient, effective, financially healthy Port Authority managing the Country’s principal port”.
Following his retirement, Bob took up the post of Executive Chairman of McCarthy and Partners Consulting Engineers where, for a number of years, his wide experience was applied to many significant and varied civil engineering projects.
His service to the engineering profession through the Cumann and The Institution of Engineers of Ireland was constant and generous. He was President of The Institution in 1985/6 and made a major contribution to the 150th anniversary celebrations and the activities of that historic year. In spite of business pressures, he fulfilled all that was asked of him and more, whether greeting the President and Taoiseach at the Anniversary Dinner, chairing the International Conference of FEANI in Trinity or greeting the guests at the attendant reception in Dublin Castle. He retained a special memory of chairing the unique meeting of the Executive of Engineers Ireland in the Custom House Dublin, which coincided with the exact day and date of the first meeting of the Institution in the same location on the 6th August 1835 and which was chaired by Col. John Fox Burgoyne.
He also signed the first agreement of cooperation and mutual recognition of accreditation procedures with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London and launched the Women in Engineering Year (1986) at a reception in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
He was an accomplished and witty public speaker and he was always an imposing presence which it has been said owed much to his army family background (His father was Maj Gen Liam Hayes, a veteran of the war of independence) coupled with his long service as an officer in the FCA. Many still recall his good-humoured chairing of Engineers Ireland meetings and the courtesy which he extended to all and for which he was noted. We also fondly remember his charming wife, Alice, who graced so many Engineers Ireland functions at Bob’s side down through the years.
Bob was an accomplished Bridge player and golfer (in Dun Laoghaire Golf Club). In his youth, he was a very promising horseman but unlike his brother Seamus, who achieved international fame on the showjumping circuit with his famous mount ‘Goodbye’, Bob chose a career in engineering as his goal in life. He was elected a founding Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering in 1997.
To his dear wife Alice, his daughters, Katherine and Barbara, and his son, Liam, the profession extends its deepest sympathy.
Finbar Callanan
