ESB is the name for the electricity supply board in Ireland.
It was established in 1927 and has served Ireland as the monopoly electricity supplier to Ireland ever since.

The ESB is investing about £40 million (euro 50.8 million) in a fibre-optic cable in advance of its bid for a third generation (3G) mobile licence.
The State company said it hoped to bid for a licence in partnership with an international mobile phone company.
The general manager of ESB Telecoms, Mr John McSweeney, said it had identified "two or three" potential partners, but declined to reveal who they were. However, no partnership would be formed until final details on the competition were released by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle.
The managing director of the ESB's engineering and commercial business division, Mr Seán Wyse, said it had "fairly detailed discussions" with potential partners.
The ESB was confident it could use the "backbone" fibre system and retail outlets throughout the State to roll out a mobile service quickly, as required by Ms Doyle.
However, Mr Wyse said it would require "a lot of support" from a partner. If no partner was secured, he said the ESB would proceed with the construction of the fibre network anyway.
If the ESB secured a 3G licence, it anticipated revenues worth "hundreds of millions".
The fibre network, which will wrap around wires on the existing electricity system, could be used by other 3G licence holders in that scenario. The system used to develop a fibre of "48 core" strength anchored on the power network was developed by a British group, ALF Focas.
Mr McSweeney would not comment when asked whether the ESB had held discussions with the US group Motorola. In the mid-1990s, it bid unsuccessfully with Motorola for the second mobile phone licence won by Esat Digifone. That partnership was known as Unisource.

Some info gleaned from the Irish Times

When used referring to beer, ESB stands for Extra Special Bitter. This is a style of ale, also sometimes called a Strong Bitter. This style of ale originated in England. An ESB is a rich, full bodied "bitter" ale, copper to golden in colour. The hops should be medium to strong, complimented by a sweet flavour of residual malt. This is a middle-of-the-road style, heavier and more flavourful than a regular bitter or a pale ale but still light and crisp in comparison to a porter.

ESB was originally brewed in The Griffin Brewery, an historic location where beer of one form or another has been brewed since 1654. Fuller's has been the operator since 1845 and makes an ESB which is considered the original.

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