“The River Lee Development Project will add a total of 27MW to the generating capacity of the Electricity Supply Board’s system and will contribute a further 65 million units approximately to the annual output of the hydro-electric scheme…These stations are also intended to provide standby capacity for the important load venue at Cork. (O’Shea, 1954, “River Lee Hydro Electric Scheme”, Engineers Journal).

Diarmuid O’Shea was the first station manager of Inniscarra Dam. He was born and raised in Cahirsiveen, Co. Kerry. His father Diarmuid was originally from Gerald Griffin Street near the North Cathedral in Cork. (His parents came into Cork from Inchigeela). Diarmuid (senior) was a volunteer, a Private, (1915-1921) in the First Cork Brigade of which Tomas MacCurtain was the Commandant. After the Treaty, he became a Garda rising up through the ranks to that of superintendent and was stationed in Cahirsiveen for a time.

In a sense both Diarmuid and his son both forged a modern Ireland, one fighting for it and serving it and the other building it. That sense of a legacy is an important one for the O’Shea family and for the making of modern Cork. His mother was from Westport in Mayo. So as Diarmuid (junior) notes “we had a mixed household on Munster final day!”.

Diarmuid (junior) went to Christian Brothers School. He pursued engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering for four years at University College Dublin. He recalls; “I always had an interest in the subject. In those days, you took what work was available or you took the boat to England. I qualified in Dublin and during that year of my graduation 1947, I started with the ESB. After a short few years, I was sent to Ardnacrusha on the Shannon as a maintenance engineer. In January 1956, I came to Inniscarra.  I remember arriving on New Year’s Day and started the following day. The site engineers were there in full strength. I was the only one of the long-term staff there.

I was appointed as Station Manager and that included the job as mechanical and electrical site engineer. When I arrived the roof was on the station building but there were no walls and the dam was only three-quarters finished. It was a rough building site – a hive of industry, a lot of work being done on the dam and the bridges and the new roads.

I liased with civil works staff on aspects we would need after the construction was finished. It was very satisfying work. Everyday we got one more step ahead. In no time, the turbines were installed and the indoor electrical equipment was built. New people started working continuously, There was a continual buzz if you can call it that. The staff were first class. The phase from installing the turbines to switch on was done on budget and on time despite a national recession in the country. The quality of men and their quality of work was great. It was much the same people that built Carrigadrohid Dam.

Frank Clynch, site engineer, was from Dublin and lived in Cleave Hill while in Inniscarra. His wife and two sons stayed with him. He was a very meticulous man in his thinking and doing. He left in 1961 and went back to head office. His assistant was Brendan Brennan, a Dublin man. He went to work on the Clady Dam in Gweedore in County Donegal. Donal Murphy, a Corkman, another site engineer, went to work for the Department of Fisheries.

I was also involved in the recruitment process of the long term staff. I remember the lads we took on – Joe Carr, Jack Higgins, John O’Leary (who we took on to operate the power station cranes). I recall other guys as well on the site – Jimmy Sweeney, a driver, and also on the Irish team that won a number of Angler Competitions, Seamus Madden, a well-known soccer player, Jim Driscoll a local man from Inniscarra. Philip Ryan, electrician and control operator was a Cashel- Tipperary man. He had been in New York area in the 1930s and had worked with electric public utilities. He came home and joined the Irish army [31st Battalion] during the Emergency and rose to the rank of captain. He went on to work in Caroline Street ESB station Cork and the Marina in the early fifties. He was then assigned to Inniscarra and remained there till his retirement in the mid seventies.

There was also Gerry Power, who came up from the Marina, he had a lot of experience, ‘Corny’ Callaghan, an Inniscarra man, Jack Higgins (who died shortly after the group picture in the turbine room was taken, see previous weeks), Joe Carr was the very first man I got. He was a Cobh man and was involved in the lighting and heating contracts for Inniscarra and Carrigadrohid. Cyril Foley, a Cork City man, was an apprentice when he came to us. He later got on the generations staff in the Marina. Aileen Aeger was secretary. She looked after the paperwork with Paddy Murphy and Tom Atkinson. Aileen went on to work as the district manager’s secretary in Wilton. Joe O’Keeffe, Control Operator afterwards went to Great Island power station.

I remember Herr Leitil who was the head electrical engineer at the dam. (he took the group photo in the turbine room). He was born in Vienna, Austria and as a young man, he served with the German navy. When he came to Inniscarra, he brought his wife and they lived in a bungalow near Cloghroe for a couple of years. He was very popular with local people. After the Lee Scheme, his next job was in Venezuela, South America. The last I heard, he was living out his retirement in Germany.

Many of the Inniscarra staff found jobs easily afterwards. The oil refinery at Whitegate and Cork Airport was being built. When the dam was finally finished, the site was reduced to a small number of staff. Inniscarra dam was commissioned in April 1957 and Carrigadrohid in the autumn of that year. I stayed on as station manager until 1960 when I went to the Marina to work as assistant manager there. In 1965, I was appointed manager.

In 1969, I was appointed ESB Regional Manager and was based at the Marina. The region at that time comprised The marina plant and other plants at Great Island, Tarbert and Cahirsiveen. By the time I retired in 1991, Aghada and Moneypoint had been added. I was involved in the staff selection, staff organisation and staff training side at these plants. My work was on a much larger scale to Inniscarra. Indeed twenty-five years after Inniscarra Dam, the ESB were building 500 MW stations compared to 15 MW at Inniscarra. That’s huge progress”.

To be continued…

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