Shannon: ‘Between Old World and New World’ by Olive Carey for Dúchas na Sionna
A social history project undertaken to collect the memories of the first Shannon residents.
Shannon:
‘Between Old World and New World’ (PDF)
Exerpt from the project report:
Shannon was Ireland’s first planned town of the twentieth century.
In 1960 one hundred and thirty-six flats and ten houses were built on
Drumgeely Hill at the edge of the international airport and new industrial
estate by the River Shannon, some 20 km from Ennis and 23 km from Limerick
City. They provided the first accommodation for the executives and workers
at the nearby industrial complex. The industrial estate was planned
as the world’s first customs free zone situated within an airport
complex and provided advanced factories with the purpose of attracting
foreign multi-national companies to set up operations at Shannon.
The overall objective of this project is to contribute
to the story of how Shannon developed and to give voice to the people
who were instrumental in creating community in the most unique of circumstances
for Ireland, that of establishing a new town from the beginning. While
not every aspect of life in Shannon is covered what follows is based
on the oral testimonies of people who recorded interviews for the Shannon
Social history project. This report covers the background to and the
first phase up to the early 1980s, a cut-off date made necessary by
the richness of the material and the need to record people’s memories
of these years before it is too late.
Resident Engineer’s Office, Rineanna, 1938.
