At the recent annual dinner of the Republic of Ireland (RoI) branch of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), long-time Engineers Ireland member and civil engineer Rory O’Sullivan was presented with ICE’s Outstanding Achievement Award, in recognition of his impressive civil engineering career.

Rory O’Sullivan.

Each year the committee of the ICE Republic of Ireland branch presents its Outstanding Achievement Award to a civil engineer who has made a significant contribution to the profession in Ireland. 2025 marks the 11th year of this award since its inception in 2015.

Candidates for the award are nominated by previous recipients, by the ICE RoI committee and by the membership of the ICE in the republic. The recipient of the award is then decided by vote of the previous award recipients.

Leading role in development of motorway infrastructure

Rory O’Sullivan’s career, spanning more than half a century, has included a leading role in the development of the motorway infrastructure of the Greater Dublin Area, and his valued advice is constantly sought by various local authorities.

O’Sullivan graduated from University College Cork in 1973 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Following a brief stint working with contractors in the UK, he returned to Ireland in 1974 to take up a position of assistant senior executive engineer with Dublin County Council’s road construction direct labour section.

Thus began a 32-year involvement with the road network of the Greater Dublin Area, which included hands-on roles as project resident engineer on almost every section of the modern motorway network, starting with the M1 airport motorway (the very first stretch of motorway in the Dublin region) in 1984 and ending with the completion of the last section of the M50, the Southern Cross motorway, in 2006.

During that time, O’Sullivan oversaw the construction of more than 50km of motorway and associated roads, more than 50 bridges and other structures including several complex grade-separated interchanges, plus extensive earthworks including large-scale rock removal, service diversions, drainage works etc.

He was responsible for numerous initiatives that were key to the success of his various projects, one example being an industry award-winning traffic management plan that maintained traffic flows of up to 80,000 vehicles per day during the construction of the Balrothery interchange on the Southern Cross motorway.

He also played a critical role in the resolution of major contractual issues on that project, which involved the restructuring of the main works contract.

In summary, there are many who believe that Rory, more than any other individual, can take credit for the successful delivery of the excellent motorway system that the Dublin region enjoys today. He has certainly left his mark on the physical and social landscape of the region, a lasting legacy for future generations.

Following the completion of the motorway network, in 2006 O’Sullivan took up a new position as a senior project manager with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, in which role he continued up to his retirement in 2016. In this role he was responsible for the planning and delivery of numerous civic projects that have greatly enhanced the lives of the residents of the county.

His most notable achievement here was project managing the RIAI award-winning €40m Lexicon Library, Central Library and Cultural Centre in Dun Laoghaire, from the design competition to select the architect-led design team through to the conciliation process to settle the contractor’s Final Account.

Other Dun Laoghaire Rathdown projects managed by O’Sullivan:

• Meadowbrook Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre, valued at €10m;
• The Samuel Beckett Civic Campus (€11m);
• Loughlinstown Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre (€8m);
• Lamb’s Cross Community Centre (€2.5m).

He also project managed through the design and planning stages numerous schemes which did not ultimately proceed to construction. In addition, he chaired the council’s Corporate Procurement Group, which ensured compliance with public procurement rules by all council departments.

Upon retirement from the county council, O’Sullivan offered his services as a consultant to the various local authorities that he had worked with over the years, and he has become a valued advisor to Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and Meath County Councils on Construction Tenders, Construction Project Claims and Conciliation, Public Procurement Law and Project Management.

He is also routinely invited to sit on local authority Project Boards (an increasingly important role in these times of intense public scrutiny of public spending) and currently sits on the Project Boards of important projects such as Dun Laoghaire Baths, Glenamuck Road Upgrade, and Parnell Square/City Library.

O’Sullivan is a Chartered Engineer; he has been a chartered member of Engineers Ireland for more than 30 years and a Fellow of Engineers Ireland since 2001. Throughout his career he has supported his professional institution by presenting technical papers and delivering training courses on behalf of Engineers Ireland.

With a strong commitment to his personal Continuing Professional Development, O’Sullivan availed of every opportunity to add to his skill set throughout his career, gaining specialist qualifications in project management, and becoming an acknowledged procurement expert.

He is a keen exponent of that fundamental obligation of the professional engineer, supporting and mentoring the next generation of engineers. Both on site and in the office, he ensured where possible, that junior staff were moved between the various sections to gain experience, and ran workshops to assist staff to improve their technical skills. He also acted as mentor on behalf of Engineers Ireland to engineers aspiring to professional titles through the experiential route.

Presenting the award, ICE RoI branch bhair Keith Elliott said: “Rory O’Sullivan represents all that is best in the professional civil engineer – technical excellence, dedication to improving the lot of society as a whole, a commitment to life-long learning, a willingness to share knowledge, to encourage and mentor others, and ensuring the future of the profession by supporting his professional institution.”