Edward Sheehy, who has died aged 85, was a consummate and dedicated public servant who made a major contribution to the development of environmental and regional planning and served at various times as chairman of An Foras Forbartha, the Association of Higher Civil Servants and the Library Council.
An only child, Sheehy was born in Tralee, Co Kerry, in February 1918. He lived in Rock Street in the centre of town and is remembered locally as one of the brightest pupils to have attended the Green School there. His recollections of the Christian Brothers' education were of a tough and at times brutal regime, but as a scholarship student for the most part he successfully steered clear of their worst excesses.
He was not easily cowed, however. Preparing for his confirmation, he was told that he should take another name, and as a favoured son was encouraged to pick Joseph, after the school itself.
Being perfectly happy with Edward Thomas Sheehy he resisted. He didn't want another name, he said. He was told that he had to have one. The compromise he reached was exemplary: he chose Thomas,early confirmation that he wouldn't be bullied by any kind of false authority and of his mischievous sense of humour. Besides, Edward Thomas Thomas Sheehy had an undeniable ring to it!
Hie sailed through both the Leaving Certificate and a scholarship and began to study Arts in UCC. But the need to support his ageing parents was pressing, and he joined the Civil Service in 1936, working first with the Revenue Commissioners.
He continued to pursue his studies in Dublin and obtained BA, LlB and DPA degrees and was later awarded an honorary Diploma in Architecture by the College of Technology in Bolton Street. A combination of academic brilliance and dedication would see him obtain first place in a series of national examinations: he got first in the executive officer and then administrative officer examinations; first in the BA honours group and first when he was taking the LlB.
He transferred to what was then the department of local government - now the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government - in 1944 and was deputy secretary of the department when he retired in 1982. He served as private secretary to Sean McEntee and for many years as head of road administration and traffic; in this last role he was the main architect of modern road-traffic legislation, including the introduction of breathalyser controls.
He also played a major part in the development of environmental and regional planning, and in promoting research support for these activities.
In the early 1970s he served as chairman of An Foras Forbartha. Within the Department he was instrumental, too, in the initiative of transferring the power to deal with planning appeals from the minister of the day to An Bord Pleanála.
Along the way he had represented Ireland on OECD committees in Strasbourg and Paris. After a crash course in French he became a fluent speaker and often reminisced about the time he spent in France where his detailed knowledge and appreciation of wine was first cultivated.
He was also a founding member, chairman and later honorary president of the Association of Assistant Secretaries and Higher Grades, the representative body of senior public servants.
After his retirement, he was appointed chairman of the Library Council of Ireland, a role for which his interest in literature and books made him especially suited.
Seen as a mentor by many higher public servants, Sheehy will be remembered for both his unflinching integrity and his personal generosity. Tributes paid to him by colleagues on his retirement acknowledged him as an intellectual pillar of the Department and as one completely motivated by the ideals of public service.
He had no time for pomp, cronyism or political patronage. Like all of the best public servants, he knew that politicians come and go, but that the work of national development had to proceed, and he was fiercely committed to that cause.
His family was also enormously important to him, particularly his wife, Phyllis - they were just 22 and 18 respectively when they married in 1940 and were together for 63 years. He was consistently generous to his children and his many grandchildren, who looked to him as a vast source of general knowledge, retained with remarkable clarity even into his 80s.
He was a keen once-a-week golfer, too, until the rigours of a full round became too much. He played steadily off an 18 handicap at the Grange, but on one bonanza day, in partnership with the late Alec Campbell, he took the first half of the course apart, the twosome winning a fourball bogey competition over nine holes in a remarkable 9 up.
He had his first heart attack at the age of 55, but his meticulousness and discipline - and the wonders of modern medicine - meant that he lived for another 30 years. Latterly, he became a well-loved regular in the heart failure unit in St Michael's.
In the end, when it came, he seemed to have decided that he'd done all he could and lived long enough, and now it was time to say a final au revoir, merci.
Edward Thomas Sheehy: born February 1918; died December 16th, 2003.