Archive - Blackouts leave Kilkenny in the dark (1973)
November 9, 1973
Kilkenny people were in the dark for most of the week. ESB blackouts which disrupted many industries also left thousands of families throughout the city and county without light and heat for long periods.
Factories, schools, shops, cinemas and countless homes were left powerless in one of the worst ESB disputes to hit the country in a long number of years.
Many industries ground to a halt as the current failed. On Tuesday workers at Padmore and Barnes were laid off for the full morning. Other firms also lost working hours.
Schools were also badly hit. With light and heat gone many had to send pupils home. Night study was also called off. In boarding schools like St Kieran’s College and Loreto Convent cold meals were served to hundreds of boarders.
Programmes at the Regent and Savoy cinemas were also hit. Clerks at Kilkenny Post Office served customers by candlelight.
Candles and oil lamps also burned in many shops and offices in an effort to keep business going. Bakery firms were disrupted, but there was no cutback in productions.
On Saturday and Monday, stores on High Street, Kilkenny were hit by blackouts. There was minor pilfering in many cases with the result that when the lights failed on Tuesday many put up the shutters.
While many were hit by blackouts some experienced a lightning increase in business. There was a boom trade in candles and hardware stores sold out of tilly lamps and wicks. Globes for oils lamps and paraffin for lamps were also in big demand.
On Wednesday the duration of blackouts was reduced as Union Management talks began in an effort to brighten the scene.
VANDALS WRECK SPORTS ROOMS
A get tough policy has been adopted by the Piltown Field Committee to stamp out vandalism which has been costing them hundreds of pounds.
The gaelic grounds and dressing-rooms, developed at a cost of over £8,000 nine years ago, have recently become a recurring target for vandals.
The dressing-room doors and windows have been broken in, basins, toilets, showers and fireplaces smashed and electrical fittings ripped from the walls.
“The vandalism will just have to stop”, the Field Committee decided at a special meeting. “If drastic action is needed, drastic action will be taken”.
“We have been left with no alternative but to get tough now. The position has now become so bad that drastic action will have to be taken to prevent a recurrence of the trouble. In future anyone caught doing any damage to the grounds or premises will be dealt with through legal challenges.”
IDA ACTION TO DEVELOP SOUTH-EAST
The annual report of the Industrial Development Authority shows that a total of £2.25 million was spent during the year 1972/73 on the South-East region.
In Kilkenny, where expenditure was second highest in the region, Avonmore Cheese Co Ltd received large payments under the new industry scheme. Considerable sums were paid out by the IDA for re-equipment grant payments during the year to a number of industries including Brett Brothers, Fit Remoulds and Glenmore Co-Op Creamery.
The total new job potential from all manufacturing projects approved by the IDA for the South-East region was 3,239.