Power pioneers: Limerick journalist meets generations of people who worked at Ardnacrusha

THIS year marks the centenary of the breaking of ground on the revolutionary Ardnacrusha Power Station.

And to celebrate the auspicious occasion, the experiences and memories of some of the many staff who provided power to the whole of Ireland have been brought to book.

From city man Eddie Storan, who remembers how he was the only person kept on site during frequent IRA bomb scares in the 1970s, to Clonlara-based ESB driver John McEvoy, who had to use his sense of touch to identify items in the pitch black under water - not to mention Limerick hurling great Mick Mackey’s “Messi-like status” when working on site - there is a rich blend of memories in Powerful People.

In shops now, it is the work of well-known local journalist Dan Danaher, who grew up on a farm near Loughill in Foynes.

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The idea for the book was born in 2020 when he attended the Ardnacrusha Memories Symposium at the Hunt Museum when he met with former staff members in his capacity as a senior reporter with the Clare Champion newspaper.

“I discovered there was a great sense of camaraderie and bond between the workers who really enjoyed working in the station. Most of the staff I interviewed didn’t want to retire, which I suppose is a great endorsement of any workplace, plus a bit unusual,” Dan laughs.

“I like doing human interest stories, and I was intrigued by some of the trials and tribulations some of the people revealed in their stories.”

On-and-off for the last five years, Dan has travelled across Limerick, Tipperary and Clare to meet 32 former workers at Ardnacrusha.

With August last marking a century since construction started - ahead of its opening in July 1929 - now felt like an opportune time to release the book.

BELOW: The power station at Ardnacrusha under construction in the late 1920s

Dan said: “I met Sean Creamer, who worked as an electrician and gave some very interesting anecdotes about Mick Mackey, who was a van driver for 47 years in the station. Sean recalled that when Mick would be driving various different people - including himself - to jobs, quickly the word would spread that Mick Mackey was there. People would converge on him, wanting to shake his hand. If he wanted a free drink, that was no problem. This was in the era before smartphones, or anything like that, remember”.

Although outside Ardnacrusha Power Station, Mackey - a part of three All-Ireland winning hurling panels - was a “sporting celebrity”, Dan says from what he has learnt, the Castleconnell man was “quite reserved” on site.

Collectively, the Mackey family spent 121 years working at the power station.

Mick enjoyed a 47-year stint as a van driver, while his son Pat was promoted from electrician to maintenance supervisor during his 45 year career.

And Mick’s other son Michael also spent 29 years there as a general operative.

Although located in south-east Clare, Ardnacrusha was “very much a Mid-West facility,” Dan added.

“There were people there from Tipperary, Limerick and Clare. Workers would recall during Championship, the banter would be flying high,” adds the reporter.

Below: Ardnacrusha Power Station as it appears today (Picture: Adrian Butler)

Many other workers were profiled.

Electrician Dan Hickey, who moved to Caherdavin in the 1960s, was one of the driving forces behind the setting up of Limerick’s reigning hurling champions, Na Piarsaigh.

For Brendan Shine, a plant manager, raised in Janesboro, working at Ardnacrusha, was “a dream come true”.

Bernie Healy from Montpelier started off as a cashier, before working her way up to become a press officer, and editor of Electric Mail, a newsletter published by the ESB highlighting energy use, appliances, and community news.

A three-week reporting trip to a dangerous region in Pakistan saw her meet her husband, Dave Shepherd, who ran a gas plant in the city of Uch Sharif.

Athlunkard Street man Ger Reid was the navigation lock-keeper, a role he held with pride for a quarter-of-a-century.

Former President Michael D Higgins provides a foreword to the book.

He described it as “a work that gathers together the stories of those who laboured with dedication, courage and quiet dignity in the service of one of the most transformative projects in the history of the State: the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme and its enduring centrepiece, the Ardnacrusha Generating Station.”

Something which still surprises Dan to this day is the sheer size and scale of the power plant.

“What is surprising is how they managed to construct something so groundbreaking in its size, engineering and ambition. When you think back then, there wasn’t the machinery and equipment we have now. It’s mind-boggling what they achieved at the time,” he said.

It was the largest hydroelectric station in the world until the Hoover Dam was built in the USA.

“What we don’t appreciate is the risk that was taken at the time. The project cost 20% of Government revenue at the time, and there were many who were sceptical that Ireland would need all this power. If you tried to do this anywhere in the country even today, it would still be a massive, massive civil engineering project,” Dan added.

‘Powerful People’ is available in the city centre at O’Mahony’s, O’Connell Street and Celtic Bookshop in Rutland Street.

Purchase it online at: https://bannerbooks.ie/shop/ireland/county-clare-ireland/powerful-people-ardnacrusha-power-station-by-the-people-who-worked-there