Gay Kirwan retires

Afunction to mark Gay Kirwan's retirement was held in Head Office on Friday, January 11th. A very large crowd of present and former colleagues were in attendance, along with his wife Eilín, his family and of course, many of his former 'pupils' who graced many a MADSOC performance.

During the course of his few words, Denis O'Leary reminded those gathered of Gay's earlier career as a secondary school teacher at St. David's CBS in Artane, where he taught from 1974 until he joined ESB in June 1980.

Gay started in 38kV Stations and Cables within the Distribution Department where his most memorable project was the electrification of Dublin's Dart system. After a stint in Fleet Street he returned to Distribution Department as section manager in the System Studies Section where, among other projects, he headed up the 20kV conversion project. He also spent seven years in ESB Customer Supply, where he tried his best to develop his golfing skills, before returning again to Distribution as divisional manager of Engineering Division in 1999. Asset Management in ESB Networks was to become his true spiritual home following his appointment as Manager, Regulation in 2000.

His more recent role as Manager, Regulation and Commercial was pivotal in helping the company - and many others - to come to terms with the new complexities of the competitive electricity industry in Ireland. Indeed, on the night, it was great to see Denis Cagney, Cathy Mannion and Keelin O'Brien from the CER in attendance.

As Musical Director of MADSOC since 1984, of course, there have been many highlights and many great nights: from winning the Dublin final of the John Player Tops in 1986, to winning the Nationa final versus 'Ericcsons' in 1988, an event that was shown live on RTE 1. Other highlights included: GREASE in 1990 and Fiddler on the Roof in 1993, for which Gay won the Best Musical Director Award at the Waterford Light Opera Festival. The production of Sweeney Todd in 1994 was the first occasion that MADSOC performed in the National Concert Hall. During 2003, and in association with the 75th Anniversary of ESB, MADSOC again filled the National Concert Hall.

Finally in 2005, this time in association with the 25th Anniversary of MADSOC, they sold out the National Concert Hall again over two nights with a show of favourite songs from the musicals. A highlight of this show was the presence of President McAleese on the Saturday night. To mark Gay's achievements with MADSOC, Therese Farrell made a special presentation of a painting by John Behan to Gay.

Gay ESB Lanesborough Retired Staff and Pensioners Association is holding a quiz night on Wednesday February 20th at 8.00 pm in the Lough Ree Arms, Lanesborough. Proceeds from the night, which is being sponsored by the Association, will be donated to a local charity. Members are reminded, and encouraged, to bring a friend.

ESB Lanesboro' Retired Staff & Pensioners Association responded by thanking all his friends and colleagues for a marvellous 28 years in ESB and for also turning up in such numbers to wish him well on his departure. Following the formalities, all headed off for the Davenport Hotel for a few drinks, music and craic. We wish Gay and his family sincere good wishes for the coming years.