Fred WecklerThe Shannon scheme did catch popular imagination. Regular excursion trains were run from Dublin so that the public could view the construction site. The artist Se�n Keating made several fine paintings of the work in progress. The dam was completed in October 1929.Among those working for Siemens on the project was Freidrich Weckler, an accountant and a native of the Rhineland. He fell in love with Ireland and when the contract was finished he decided to stay on: taking out citizenship and accepting a much-reduced salary. After De Valera came to power the ESB was removed from civil service control and established as a semi-state corporation. Fred Weckler took over the general running of the ESB under a politically-appointed chairman. Weckler proved an able administrator who soon got the organization running efficiently, and his methods influenced the development of B�rd na M�na, CIE, the Sugar Company and many other semi-state bodies, and were admired and imitated abroad. To give but one example, Weckler insisted that the ESB use the metric system of measurements where possible, thereby greatly enhancing efficiency. The ex-officer managers were shunted aside and persons of ability promoted, given precise objectives and set to work. During the Second World War, Weckler suddenly found himself the target of personal abuse from certain quarters because of his German origins. He found these insults, coming from persons he had thought to be his friends, deeply disturbing. His health broke down as a result and in 1943 he died. Han
Historian of Dutch Metrication, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
