Host: The Rathkeale and District Historical Society (RDHS)

Lecture: Brian O’Connell, author, and Cian O’Carroll, collaborator, on the recent biography, Brendan O’Regan, Irish Innovator, Visionary & Peacemaker, published by Irish Academic Press

RDHS issued the following press release after the talk:

Cian O’Carroll provided a broad picture of Brendan’s life, using many of the photographs from the book to illustrate his talk.

Brian O’Connell focussed on O’Regan’s time in Foynes in the Flying Boat era during the Second World War. He showed how his leadership and motivational skills led his staff to present a very favourable image of the newly independent Ireland to the many important visitors passing through the airport. He said that Foynes during that period was unlike most other places in Ireland with a booming local economy in what was, he asserted, an Allied Forces base.

While Rathkeale is only mentioned in the biography in relation to a stirring address by O’Regan´s brother, Fr. Paddy O’Regan, at a Gaelic League Festival in the town, O’Connell said that O’Regan made a very positive impact on the economic life of Rathkeale, like all other parts of the mid-west region. He provided several examples of links between Rathkeale and O’Regan´s diverse activities at Foynes and Shannon. These included items as varied as the bread supply from the People`s Bakery to the restaurants at Foynes and Shannon, Rathkeale graduates of the Shannon Hotel College and the promotion of industry by SFADCO under O’Regan´s chairmanship, such as the expansion of Shannon Meats and the construction of the first Industrial Estate in the town in 1976. O´Connell highlighted the important roles of local Coolcappa man, Tom Nestor, who headed the Human Resources Division in SFADCO, before leading the SFADCO Overseas Aid Division which worked closely with O’Regan and the UN to bring the Shannon Export Processing model to the undeveloped World. One surprising link was a Blackrock College Past Pupils Union dinner which O’Regan organised at Shannon in 1957. The event, at which Eamon de Valera made some controversial remarks about the particular suitability of rugby for Irishmen, attracted no less than five Blackrock alumni from Rathkeale.

Speaker: Brian O’Connell & Cian O’Carroll