Eamon C. Kerney

Eamon Conall Kerney, youngest son of Leopold and Raymonde Kerney, was born in Paris in 1926 at a difficult time for his father who had become seriously ill and was soon to find himself out of work. Eamon was called after his godfather Eamon de Valera who sent a silver bowl representing the Ardagh Chalice as a christening present. As de Valera could not be present at the ceremony, Sean Mac Bride acted as sponsor.

From France, Eamon went to Spain in 1935 with his parents when his father was appointed Irish Minister in Madrid. During the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 he was at a boarding school in Ireland, but remained in Spain when the World War started in 1939, until 1945 when he started his engineering studies at University College, Dublin.

Most of his engineering life was spent on the design and construction of power stations for the E.S.B. In 1955 he married Maud O'Brien, daughter of Martin O'Brien, Inspector of Taxes, and niece of Professor Michael O'Brien of the Institute of Advanced Studies and of Tommy O'Brien, broadcaster with RTE. They have two children, Philip and Maeve. He retired in 1986.