ESB map showing areas completed by

Up to 100,000 transfonners were needed, initially sourced in the U.S. but because of currency fluctuations, from 1949 Irish-manufactured transformers became available. Other materials were modified from wartime uses and sourced in war surplus depots in Britain and the continent for example, up to 800 mi (1,280 km) of British naval minesweeping hawser were adapted as stay wires for the network. There was initial reluctance by British suppliers, hostile as a result of Ireland s wartime neutrality, but very soon the enormous scale of Ireland s rural electrification scheme and its commercial attractiveness overcame this hostility. By 1950, however, more and more materials were being sourced in Ireland, the expansion of rural electricity itself often facilitating such manufacture by 1956, 69% of 2m worth of material was sourced in Ireland, 82% by 1961. As a result the rural scheme had significant downstream consequences for the Irish economy. 

Many rural inhabitants were cautious in their attitudes to electricity. In many of the remoter rural communities there was resistance to innovation, making canvassing an important stage in the early days when ignorance of the benefits of the new power source was extensive. More progressive farmers, teachers, clergy. 

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Fig. 104.8 ESB map showing areas completed by 1952. (Printed with permission from the ESB...

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