New book explores how unique people made South Longford ESB station special

​A new book 'ESB Lanesborough -The People Who Powered It' concentrates on the unique characters, stories, cultural and societal benefits that it brought to the South Longford area.

The fascinating publication is the work of co-authors Brendan Whitty and John Loughlin, both of whom worked in the station for 40 years and 25 years respectively.

The engaging book tells the story of what life was like in the power station and contains a treasure trove of remarkable photographs and memories from the past.

More than 130 people attended the launch recently at St Mary's Hall in Lanesboro and the special gathering included a large number of former workers and their families.

The book is intended as a tribute to all who worked there, including many who have since passed on to their eternal reward, and it celebrates their achievements and preserves their memories for future generations.

Around 100 people, including staff and associated or seasonal workers, were working at the original ESB peat-fired power station when it closed in 2004.

The book concentrates on the characters who made the old power station unique among ESB's fleet of power stations and the people from almost every county in Ireland, north and south who worked together.

The names of 381 people who worked at the station are listed and included in the book.

John said 'ESB Lanesborough - The People Who Powered It' is the second book that he and Brendan have produced following their 2018 publication 'Pathways To Power: A History of Lanesborough Power Station'.

"This book is really about the people, it's not such a technical book, the last one had a lot of technical information.

"This book looks at the people involved in the station over the years and we had people from nearly every county in Ireland.

"We had people from every county in Connacht, every county in Ulster and I think nearly every county in Leinster as well and with the exception of Waterford every county in Munster as well."

The book celebrates the men and women whose knowledge, commitment, and strong sense of teamwork enabled the station to flourish for so many years.

At the heart of the book is a remarkable photographic record, drawing extensively on the vast archive assembled by co-author Brendan Whitty during his years at the station.

The striking images together with contributions generously provided by former colleagues, families and friends capture not only the daily life of the station but also the friendships, pride, and community spirit that defined it.

John said the station won numerous awards for excellence, for efficiency, for safety and for cleanliness over a long lifetime which began in the mid 1950s and the employees contributed greatly.

"They all brought their own strengths in sport or culture or whatever it happened to be and that mingled with the indigenous population here it created a great vibe and it was for the betterment of everybody and we that is the sort of thing we tried to capture in the book."

John said they began working on the book in early-2024 and it is intended 'as a record of the people' and to celebrate their achievements because Lanesboro had a very good record within the company.

"It was the leading station for many years and that was recognised in head office and all over the ESB.

"When it came to efficiency, availability, cleanliness or safety or whatever parameter you want to use Lanesboro was always the leading light in that area and that continued right up to the day the station closed.

"Unfortunately time ran out for the old station and it's sad when a station does close and it's razed to the ground and there's nothing left. "There's no trace there and that is what happened in this case and now there's a whole new generation of people growing up around Lanesboro, Ballyleague who have never seen the old station."

John praised his co-author Brendan for his dedicated work and for 'always being there with his camera' for station events over the years, which proved so valuable.

He also thanked and commended Fiona Dunne of FD Design for her impressive creative work and a presentation was made to her.

"There wouldn't be any book if it were not for the man sitting here beside me, Brendan Whitty," John said.

"This book is all Brendan's work and any of ye who have had a flick through it will see the number of photographs throughout the book and that is really only a fraction of the archive that Brendan has accumulated over the years."

John said they were delighted that a few people who were present at the book launch were also there in the 1950s when the station was first muted.

"The construction work started back in 1955 and it was actually a fairly quick build because the station opened in 1958.

"Lanesboro was unique as well as it was the first large peat station that didn't have a cooling tower, all of the other stations that were built previous to that, they all had cooling towers, which made them a lot more expensive and a lot slower to build as well."

John concluded by sharing his appreciation with all of the people who assisted them with the publication.

"I wish to convey our sincere thanks to everybody who helped us out with the book and there are two people especially who had to put up with a lot of inconvenience and all sorts of problems from Brendan and myself and I want to finish off by thanking our wives, my wife Violet and Brendan's wife Vera for all they have done for us over the last two years and all they had to put up with."

Lanesboro-based Councillor Mark Casey, who made the opening speech, praised Brendan and John for their hard work producing the book and the committee behind them as he praised the photographs and stories.

"There was great hype when it was announced that the ESB was coming to Lanesboro and when it opened in 1958 it made the area.

"So many people were employed here through the ESB and Bord na Móna and this area boomed and as someone always said Lanesboro never had a recession due to the ESB and Bord na Móna.

"We got through all of the tough times.

"I remember the 1980s, the plant going up and then the new plant going up and the town was buzzing, it was alive.

"And it was all thanks to the ESB and the ESB, like yourselves, who put in so many hours and who kept the country lit during dark times as well as good times.

"But to capture the history of it now is so important because we sometimes forget what happened before us, and we should always remember what happened.

"The ESB is an integral part of this community, Lanesboro, Ballyleague, Killashee, Cashel and the surrounding areas. It's absolutely such a vital part."

One of the talented people who features in the book is the Olympian Joe Casey, who came to work at the ESB station in Lanesboro in April 1958 as a 21 year-old for just under 18-months.

He later joined An Garda Síochána before being selected on the Irish boxing team for the 1960 Olympics in Rome where he represented the country with distinction.

Joe, who described it as a 'great experience', also won two All Ireland Senior Heavyweight Championships in 1960 and 1961 as well as a European Police Championship in 1961.

Joe returned to the ESB in 1963 and after qualifying as a technologist he enjoyed many trips to Lanesboro, which he said offered him a 'great chance to renew old acquaintances'.

Local Fianna Fáil Senator Joe Flaherty made an engaging speech at the book launch where he focused on the transformation of the area.

"Myself and a lot of people in Lanesboro and on the periphery of the town probably wouldn't be here were it not for the ESB and Bord na Móna.

"We grew up and we benefitted greatly as a consequence so it was life-changing for the town and for the community."

Senator Flaherty described Lanesboro as being a 'bleak' place in the 1950s which was "considered nothing more than a little village and then of course Bord na Móna came and the ESB came and it changed so much".

Senator Flaherty said the power station brought vital employment including his own father who got 'two great twists with the ESB with the building of two power stations' but it also provided so much more.

"We probably wouldn't have as vibrant a Lough Ree Athletic Club if it were not for the power station and the people that came with it and volunteered to do so much.

"And we wouldn't have had the track up at the vocational school either, we wouldn't have had a pitch and putt club, we have all of those amenities thanks to the efforts and the endeavours of the people who worked in Bord na Móna who came from virtually every county in Ireland with a great sense of civic pride to build the community for themselves and their children but also for the other people here."

Senator Flaherty said what really changed Lanesboro was the ‘marvellous and remarkable’ people who came to work with the ESB and Bord na Móna and built communities with a ‘passion’.

"We ended up with two very strong GAA clubs, they're probably not as strong at the minute, but over the years we had serious teams at different times and that was all in-part due to the people who came who brought learnings from their own communities be-it Galway, Mayo, Cork or Kerry and they instilled those beliefs and passions in what we got here."

The impressive book is available to buy locally.