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Witness History: How electricity came to rural Ireland

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How electricity came to rural Ireland

22/08/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, How electricity came to rural Ireland

The Rural Electrification Scheme brought power to 300,000 homes in the Irish countryside

In May 1948, Bansha became the first village in County Tipperary, to be connected to the national grid under Ireland's Rural Electrification Scheme.

In May 1948, Canon John Hayes flicked a switch and brought electricity to the parish of Bansha, in Ireland. 

The village was the first in County Tipperary to be connected to the grid, under the Rural Electrification Scheme. 

The ambitious programme ran from 1946 to 1964 and saw 300,000 homes powered up. 

Vicky Farncombe produced this episode of Witness History using archives from Irish electricity board, the ESB.

(Photo: Erecting electricity poles in rural Ireland. Credit: ESB Archives)

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