Kildare Deaths on the Shannon Scheme in August 1929
The Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme
The Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme at Ardnacrusha County Clare was without doubt the major infrastructural project of the Irish Free State in the 1920s. It paved the way for the social, economic and industrial development of Ireland and facilitated the electrification of the entire country over the following decades with hydroelectric schemes closer to County Kildare at Poulaphouca, Golden Falls and Leixlip assisting. One aspect of the project that doesn’t always feature in the popular memory or history of the Scheme today is the abysmal conditions experienced by those working on the project. Low wages (labourers were only paid agricultural labourers wage), the hiring of non-union labour and consequent strikes, poor living conditions and complete absence of health and safety precautions were all prevalent during the multi-annual construction.
Visitors to Ardnacrusha today, will encounter a memorial to over thirty workers who lost their lives while working on the construction of the Shannon Scheme. It lists the native county of each Irish worker who died (or Germany for the Siemens-Schuckert workers) and two Kildare men – Peter Kinsella and Michael Conroy – are listed as having tragically lost their lives on 14th August 1929.
Newspaper Reports Of Accident & Subsequent Inquest
The first reports of the death of two Kildare men on the Shannon Scheme appeared in national and local newspapers on Saturday 17th August. The Kildare Observer carried a short paragraph on the death under a ‘Two Kildare Men Killed’ headline, though it appears likely that they received the report at very short notice prior to going to print as it incorrectly named the victims as Thomas Kinsella and James Conroy from Newbridge.
The subsequent inquest would reveal that the two workers were in fact named Peter Kinsella and Michael Conroy and that they had fallen over forty feet onto concrete when a plank on the platform they were standing on gave way. Peter’s brother Thomas Kinsella gave evidence at the inquest that Peter was from Walterstown, Nurney, County Kildare and that Peter was twenty six years of age when he passed away.
The jurors returned a scathing verdict on the contractors involved, blaming the fatalities due to the use of a plank that “was unsafe, owing to a knot near the centre” and tests had shown that it could not hold the weight of three men at a space of seven and a half feet. The jurors added that they were of the opinion that the contractors were guilty of “gross negligence”. also expressing sympathy to the relatives of the two workers involved. Inquest of two workers from Examiner 17 August 1929 There was no evidence of a subsequent prosecution taking place.
Funerals & Kildare Connections
The newspapers also record that the remains of Peter Kinsella were subsequently removed to his native Nurney, County Kildare for internment. He was survived by his mother and other relatives. There does not appear to be any marked grave for Peter at the old graveyard beside Nurney Church today.
The remains of Michael Conroy, listed on the memorial today as also being from County Kildare, were to be interred by the Shannon Scheme contractors in Limerick as no living relatives could be traced. The only other information included was that he was born in County Dublin, which raises doubts over the claim that he was a native of County Kildare. It is possible that he was an ex-Army Serviceman, based in County Kildare, as former pro-Treaty Officer and Minister for Labour Joseph McGrath recruited heavily from their ranks in his role as Director of Labour for Siemens.
Further Reading
McCarthy, Michael. ‘How The Shannon Scheme Workers Lived’, in Bielenberg, Andy (editor) The Shannon Scheme and the Electrification of the Irish Free State. Lilliput Press, 2002. Available here
Hanley, Gerard. Workers, Politics and Labour Relations in Independent Ireland, 1922-46. (Four Courts Press, 2024).
Slater, Sharon. ‘Workers Who Died During the Construction of the Shannon Scheme’ posted on Limerick’s Life blog here
