Christmas message from the Chief Executive

A Chairde,
Nollaig shona libh go leir. Is am specialta i an Nollaig agus guim beannachtai na feile ar mo chomhleacaithe go leir agus a muintir.

On this, ESB's 81st Christmas, I want to wish you and your families a very happy and peaceful season.

We have come to the end of another successful year for ESB and sincere thanks are due to you all for the hard work and dynamism that made it possible. Christmas is a time for reflection and the past 12 months have been exceptional for the company on many fronts.

The announcement in March of our €22 billion investment programme has been warmly welcomed as a major corporate strategy and puts ESB to the forefront in achieving ambitious sustainability targets for the company and for Ireland.

We will recall 2008 as a year when we advanced our overseas expansion with significant announcements in Spain and in Britain; when we concluded the successful sale of power generation assets to the Spanish utility, Endesa; and when we continued major investments in our networks.

I am particularly delighted with the work we have completed through ElectricAid in Ghana, West Africa. Your extraordinary generosity and voluntary effort means that we were able to successfully complete the rehabilitation of a school previously in deplorable conditions in Accra.

I am proud of the way you responded in such numbers, and so selflessly, to the request to travel to work on the Teshie school site in difficult conditions. Because of your contribution, the school can now offer its 4,200 students an opportunity to escape the poverty of their lives through education in a vastly improved environment.

For me, the dedication shown in the Teshie project summarises all that is fine and best in ESB's culture.

That sense of commitment and social responsibility is manifest every day in what must be our constant business focus – our customers. We are living in far more straitened economic times than even this time last year, and many people are facing difficulties. Conscious of this, ESB made a once-off contribution to all electricity customers in August in order to ameliorate price increases.

In January we welcomed our new Board Chairman, Lochlann Quinn, and paid tribute to Tadhg O'Donoghue for his years of service to ESB and the immense support Tadhg gave to myself and the management team. Lochlann has already brought a great depth of wisdom and good counsel in the short time he has been with us and we hugely value his presence.

On a personal note, I want to express the great honour I feel on being reappointed Chief Executive of ESB for a further three years. I look forward with great anticipation to the many challenges ahead and know you will join with me in facing them together.

In this special season we recall colleagues who have retired during the year and in previous years, and to them I send warm greetings. We remember, too, friends and colleagues who have passed away and offer their families our ongoing support and thoughts at what can be a difficult time.

Christmas is a time for family and friends. May you enjoy it in peace and happiness.
Padraig McManus