Louis O’Halloran (b. 1935), former lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering

Louis O’Halloran discusses his early schooldays and later being awarded scholarships to attend university. He studied Electrical Engineering at UCC where his mentor at the time was Professor Teago. He recalls his time in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, and the great advances made there at the time. In 1963 he began work in IBM as a computer maintenance engineer, and this involved intensive training in computers at that early stage. He later joined a small company in Cork, called Jowen Electronics which produced electrical display boards for sports stadia, and was the initiator of such a system. Louis describes his responsibility for the design and supervision of this work. In September 1970 he was appointed to the RTC by Larry Poland, Head of the Electronics Department and there he began a new course for electronic technicians specialising in computers. He returns at the end of the recording to talk in more detail about the positions he has held during his life.