John Mohan retires

John Mohan has taken leave of us to put down roots in his adopted Donegal after more than 36 years' service in both ESB and ESBI. John was born in England in the year of the big snow (1947), later moving to Fermanagh in 1952 and Armagh city ten years later. His parents were newsagents, so the concept of selling and being wellread came naturally! He graduated from QUB in 1969 with a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering.

His career in ESB commenced with the Generation Training programme in Pigeon House under Peadar O'Duffy and the incomparable John Gunning–what an initiation! After Pigeon House, John started his career as a trainee Shift Engineer in Bellacorick, before moving to Lanesborough on the famous day in May 1970 that the then-Taoiseach Jack Lynch sacked three of his Government Ministers. He later moved to Poolbeg as a Shift Engineer.

In 1973, John was appointed as Charge Engineer Gweedore/Clady. As we all know, Donegal women are prized and it was not long before John met his wife Teresa, who was one of eight sisters, working as a chef in McFaddens, Gortahork. In 1983, John transferred to Lee Stations as Station Manager and during this time he was seconded as Operations Manager in Sapele, Nigeria. The project was later abandoned due to a coup in the country. After a stint in Lee Stations, John spent two years as Operations Engineer in Moneypoint.

In 1986, John was appointed Manager Fuel Purchasing (Oil/Gas/Peat) in ESB Head Office (working with Eddie O'Connor), before returning to Donegal in 1988 as Station Manager, Donegal Stations. In 1993, John was seconded to the Cost and Competitiveness Review (CCR) in ESB Power Generation.

In 1996, John joined ESBI and discovered Air Miles! He was instrumental in the successful mobilisation of Rousch, Takoradi, Kulim and Lebanese projects (Beddawi/Zahrani), Coolkeeragh and Amorebietta.

John has made a huge contribution in all the areas he has worked in. Over the course of his 36 years he has made many friends, both at home and abroad, and he will be sorely missed by all.