Michael McDonnell, who died on April 8th aged 58, was a career public servant. He retired last February as chief executive of CIE group, a position he held for almost six years.
Previously, he had worked at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, the Department of Finance, and Dublin Corporation. Before joining the CIE group, he was a director on four State boards - Aer Lingus, B & I, Shannon Marine Developments Ltd and the Shannon Free Airport Development Company.
Michael McDonnell was born on February 26th, 1943, in Drimnagh, Dublin, the son of fire safety officer Michael and Anne (nee Sex) McDonnell.
He was educated at James's Street CBS and got a masters degree in economic science and management accounting at UCD. He also held a diploma in financial programming and management from the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
After finishing school, he worked in Dublin Corporation for six years, leaving in 1966 to join the Department of Finance as administrative officer. In his 20 years at the department he worked mainly as an economist and on relations with the social partners.
Later, he joined the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, now the Department of Public Enterprise, and was director-general for civil aviation. In this capacity, he negotiated bilateral air accords for the State, including the Ireland-USA Air Agreement.
He was subsequently appointed assistant secretary at the department, where he had special responsibility for access transport and aviation.
In May 1995, he was appointed chief executive of CIE group by the then Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Michael Lowry. He thus became a board member of the group and chairman of its three operating companies - Dublin Bus, Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann.
With difficult industrial relations and, at times, tension between the group and its political masters, the position has always been regarded as one of the most testing in the public sector. He faced what CIE has described as the "major challenge" of addressing gross under-investment in public transport before the current economic boom began. In this context, he argued strongly in favour of increased State support for the CIE companies.
The "core objective" of the group, he said, was to change the perception of public transport as the poor man's mode and make it an attractive alternative to travel by car.
Addressing an Oireachtas committee, he said because road space was limited, the most efficient way to move masses of people is by public transport. This was already the case elsewhere in Europe.
"We in Ireland have only recently begun to accept this fact as the huge economic, social and environmental costs of traffic congestion arising from the upsurge in car ownership impinge on our daily lives," he said.
Such arguments were absorbed into the National Development Plan, which followed a policy shift in favour of public transport and an investment of £2.2 billion to improve services.
He was responsible for the delivery of that programme - and, earlier, for the investment of more than £300 million during the years 1996-1999, mainly in the rail business. Among those projects were the refurbishment of Heuston and Connolly stations in Dublin.
Michael McDonnell also supported attempts to secure autonomy for CIE in its management of industrial relations.
Friends described Michael McDonnell as hard-working, conscientious, serious, intense, extremely honest, very charitable, highly intelligent and deeply religious. He was also noted for his direct approach, with the ability to make a strong case with great lucidity.
He is survived by his wife Noreen, sons, Niall and Fergal, and daughter Orla, his mother Anne, brothers, Brian and Joe, and sisters, Maeve, Deirdre, Nuala and Anne.
Michael Patrick McDonnell: born 1943; died, April 2001