The death has taken place of Prof Charles T.G. Dillon, a former chairman of the ESB and the Nuclear Energy Board. He also served on the National Science Council at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s.
Prof Dillon guided the ESB as chairman through a period of innovation and change between 1975 and 1991.
He was professor of electrical engineering at UCC from 1959 and worked in Switzerland and Sweden as well as Ireland. This extensive experience served him well while chairman of the ESB.
During a period in Sweden in the early 1950s, he displayed his innovative skills when he became closely involved in the development of new equipment required for the effective transmission of electrical energy by high-tension direct current.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, paid tribute to Prof Dillon's work and expressed regret at his death.
"Throughout his period as chairman, Prof Dillon ensured that the ESB was fully focused to handle the dramatic changes which were taking place in Ireland and its energy requirements as increasing industrialisation took place. He displayed great aptitude, dedication and perseverance."
When he was chairman of the Nuclear Energy Board in 1974, he advocated the establishment of a nuclear reactor in Ireland.
He said at the time that a reactor would cost in the region of £200 million and Ireland should "get into the queue" to the World Bank and the EEC for financial support for this project as soon as possible. He also said there was need to invest huge capital sums in the exploitation of possible native offshore oil and gas finds.
He is survived by his wife, Una, and family.