Powering the Nation
Visions of the Shannon Scheme and electricity in Ireland with Sorcha O'Brien
Sorcha O'Brien talks about her book Powering the Nation, the visual story, not just of the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme, but of Ireland's introduction to electricity in the early days of the Irish Free State. The ESB was set up to manage the power station and national grid in 1927, which makes it the first Semi-State body in Ireland.
Sorcha O’Brien is a design historian with interest in technology and identity in both physical and digital forms. She teaches Design History and Theory to Product and Furniture Design students in Kingston University, UK. She is co-editor of the anthology Love Objects: Emotion, Design and Material Culture and subject editor for the Bloomsbury Encyclopaedia of Design.
Powering the Nation: Images of the Shannon Scheme and Electricity in Ireland is published by Irish Academic Press (2017). Powering the Nation is available to borrow from any public library in Ireland.
Recorded at Walkinstown Library on 11 October 2017 as part of Dublin Festival of History.