In January 1947 Tommy White’s pub and grocery shop, in my native Oldtown, North County Dublin, became the first premises in Ireland to be lit up under the Rural Electrification Scheme, which brought electricity to around 1.75 million people. Although not far from Swords or the airport, and only around twenty miles from where Nelson’s Pillar then stood, the area was quintessential countryside. Speaking on a documentary about the scheme the much-lamented Micheal O’Muircheartaigh said “Oldtown was as rural as Kerry”. Incidentally, Micheal’s brother Paddy Moriarty served a chief executive of ESB. Getting connected took time and could be expensive depending on the distance you lived from the nearest pole. Some of the older generations were sceptical, fearing the cost and disruption. Others worried the new-fangled yoke was the spawn of a dark force, capable of frying them or burning their house to the ground. Following years of persuasion my grandmother eventually agreed to allow “the light” into the kitchen and one bedroom. The shadeless bulbs were turned on an off by pulling a string – a temptation this mischievous kid could not resist. Apart from a dangerous two pin connection on the bulb holders, there were no sockets, which was immaterial, given that granny’s most up to date gadget was a hand turned churn, she used for making her trademark unpalatable, butter which could be smelt in the next parish.
Meanwhile, our branch of the family lived in an antiquated gate lodge, lit by a paraffin oil lamp until we moved into a new house in 1968. At last, we had entered the twentieth century with sockets aplenty but nothing to plug into them. Suspecting we were close relatives of the Flintstones, one of new neighbours kindly gave us an electric kettle. Overjoyed, my mother no longer had to rise at the crack of dawn to coax a reluctant fire into life, in order to make tea for the breakfast and fill my father’s flask before he headed to his day’s toil. Later we purchased more “mod cons” including a primitive washing machine with a mangle dryer on top. Today our homes are the stuff of science fiction; equipped with technology to preform every conceivable task. But occasionally it’s interesting to remember the pre-electric era when drudgery was rife, but paradoxically, we had more time.