Paul to bring energy to new role
Mullingar engineer Paul O'Reilly has a vision for the Irish midlands.He wants the area formed by the "gateway triangle" to fight its corner for its slice out of every national cake; he wants it recognised as a cohesive area; and he wants it to make its mark on the renewable energy front - an area in which professionally, he has considerable expertise.These are among the issues that Paul hopes will mark his term - which begins in a month - as president of the Midland Gateway Chamber of Commerce.Despite his commitment to the midlands however, O'Reilly isn't a native of the area. He grew up in a house that had a back garden running virtually onto the beach in Bettystown, and originally came to Mullingar "just for six months"."We grew up on the sand dunes," he laughs, adding that it's only in latter years that a wall has been built between his parents' back garden and the beach.Growing up so close to the sea gifted Paul with a lifelong love of water. He has been an avid scuba diver for years, and he and his wife have a boat, which they take out at Bettystown, at Malahide, and sometimes, in Athlone.O'Reilly never saw Mullingar in his future, when he emerged from Bolton Street, and then Queen's University Belfast as a young newly-qualified structural engineer.In fact, at that stage, there was virtually a questionmark over Ireland being a part of its future."There was nothing happening here," he says, explaining that he headed off to London, anxious to set straight into getting the experience he needed."In fact, I had been offered a job in Dublin Corporation and I didn't take it because I knew they wouldn't be doing anything except potholes, and I would get no experience."Having got my degree - it didn't come easy, financially - I had to support myself, but having got the degree, I knew I had 'a passport'," he explains.Two years into London, he knew he would never call the UK capital "home" - but home wasn't where he headed: instead, as many young engineers were doing at that stage, he headed for Saudi Arabia."It was very interesting: a complete cultural change."I was single, and working for a British consultant engineer in Jeddah, on the Red Sea."You would look forward to the weekends: it had the best scuba diving in the world, you would be swimming with sharks, and turtles, and shipwrecks that were totally untouched."The country was beautiful: it had some lovely features."Remarkably, for a non-Muslim, he also got to visit Mecca, solely because the firm with which he was working was involved in construction of a water factory there."The only non-Muslims allowed there are those on professional duty," he explains.Living in a Muslim country where alcohol isn't merely frowned upon, but actively banned, meant a very sober six months."But like every country, when you meet the Irish, and the expats, it swings to the reverse," he laughs, recalling that out there, he met workers who had gone to Saudi because they were battling a drink problem, and believed it would be a good place to fight it - to find the opposite."If you were caught with a drink, there were no allowances made," he says.The partying was, however, all behind closed doors, in secrecy. As were services for any religion other than Islam, as Paul found out one Christmas, when he heard there were religious services offered - in absolute secrecy - at a certain location. "You tell nobody," he was warned, when he was invited.After two months in Saudi, Paul returned to Ireland, taking up an offer of a job with a company laying water pipes in Longford.He chose, however, to live in Mullingar, a town he didn't know at all, although he was friendly with another engineer living here, Finbarr Stuart, whom he had met at college."My intention was always to set up a business in Ireland. The reality was when I came to Mullingar, there was a vacuum for an engineering consultatnt. The nearest one was in Athlone."Myself and Finbarr went to college together: so we know each other thirty years," he says.Their firm, O'Reilly Stuart - or ORS Consultant Engineers as it is now known - is based in Marlinstown, opposite the Mullingar Park Hotel."The early projects were certifying houses, and small extensions to pubs and shops, and maybe fire safety certification."There were no large projects."And it went from one extreme toâ¦no limits."In the heady days of Ireland's soaring tiger, and the growth of the "new Europe" countries, the duo expanded the practice - massively."At the height - two years ago, we had seventy professional engineers and architects, with six offices - one in Dublin on Stephen's Green, the Mullingar office, which was the HQ, Lviv in the Ukraine, Bucharest in Romania, Budapest in Hungary and Gdansk in Poland," says Paul."My own philosophy was when the economy was strong, to build up the practice because we would always have that experience when the downturn follows. There was no point in keeping small and steady."All recessions are cyclical, and we felt that by having a greater spread of offices - not correctly - at the time that we would be a bit more robust to meet a recession."But all countries got hit at the same time."It was at home that the downturn struck first, hitting home as far back as December 2007, just before the wider acceptance that the Celtic Tiger had died."We closed the Ukraine first, then Dublin, and then one by one. The last was Hungary, last August."We had a fabulous set up. We were tremendously well anchored into the countries, we had great knowledge of how these countries worked, but when the work dried up, there was no point in staying on."All is not lost however: the firm has now turned its attention in a completely new direction, and an expansion into a UK base at Cheltenham is on the cards."No! It's not because of the racing!" he laughs, pre-empting the question he's constantly asked by those who learn of the practice's plans.It just happens they are in talks with a possible partner firm there, which may see ORS Consultants bring to the UK the expertise the firm has built up in the field of renewable energy - a subject on which O'Reilly is passionate, and knowledgeable - and encouragingly optimistic.Wearing both his professional hat - and his Gateway President's chains - he is anxious that the midlands does not lose out in terms of energy availability in the future and believes Ireland could go a long way towards meeting its future energy needs."We have one of the best locations for wind in Europe, and for wave energy."Most of the countries that grow energy groups have a water footprint: we have water naturally."Our potential in terms of our water footprint and energy crops and biodigesters could be very strong tomorrow, but we'll need to have a strategy in place today.He is, however, frustrated by Government's failure to date to offer a scheme allowing micro-generators of electricity to sell their electricity back into the national grid - something that has recently been given the OK in Britain.Germany's approach - adopted in the wake of WW2 when the country suffered oil embargos - is even more progressive: it pays people to produce their own electricity - and buys their surplus.He agrees that for householders to make their homes more energy efficient, there is a cost: but he points out, there is a payback within 5-10 years - and they're a form of home improvement which even in the current property slump, do add value to a house.Time is going to be something of a scarce commodity in the O'Reilly household when O'Reilly takes over the Presidency. Wife Teresa recently brought the "Home Insteady" franchise to the midlands, and there are three children in the clan as well - Jenny, Lisa-Jean and Gregory.It's a good town for them to grow up in, Paul believes, citing the huge number of sporting clubs in the area.Plus there's that hereditary love of the waterâ¦