[Early photograph of Shannon Town and Shannon Free Zone c.1960s, The Shannon Development Collection University of Limerick]
In 2024 the committee of Shannon Development Pensioners’ Association took the decision to run a pilot oral history project as part of a wider study of its official records and photographic collection. The committee believed that Shannon Development had been successful not just in improving the economic fortunes of the Midwest region but the country as a whole. However, they wanted to understand if this truly was the case or was it a perception they had within the company and, therefore, not the reality of the situation. They also wanted to know if anything could have been done to prevent Shannon Development from folding in 2014. Or was it a case that the company had reach its natural conclusion after nearly six-decades in existence. I was approached to establish the oral history project and to conduct they interviews.
The pilot project involved interviewing the last four Chief Executives of the company as well as the first manager of Shannon Town. The interviews with the last four CEO’s shows that while each had different priorities and styles of leadership that changed to suit the external economic, social and political threats that challenged the company, they remained true to the ‘can do’ attitude pioneered by its founder Brendan O’ Regan’s in 1959.
Expansion of the project in 2025
The pilot scheme proved successful and a decision was made by the committee to create a full-scale project. The remit of the expanded project is to interview staff across all levels of the company as well as those who were associated with Shannon Development. In time these transcripts will be made available online.
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