The Lee Hydro Electric Scheme is still very much at the heart of people's memories in mid-Cork and in the wider region. This article is based on a series of interviews conducted by ESB archive staff with former and present day workers during the summer of 2007.

There are lessons to be learned from the Lee hydro electric scheme. All of the workers interviewed, past and present, touched upon ideas of pride and identity. Many were young adults when they arrived to the building works. They talk about the idea of inheritance, the way of life, memories and talents being passed down from older to younger colleagues – the passing of the torch, so to speak.

Carrigadrohid Dam, View upstream of construction works, 11 May 1955 Picture: courtesy of ESB Archives, Dublin

The Lee scheme is also about the power of creativity and imagination, and the evolution of ideas. It was and still is about taking risks and pushing out the comfortable boundaries of life. For each person written about in snapshot in this article and other articles, many more are represented through their life experiences. The Lee scheme should encourage us all to ponder on the power of the individual and their contribution to society, whether at a local or international level.

Seamus Madden (Clerical Officer, retired):

"The Lee scheme was the talk of the town at that time of construction. I got a job as store keeper. I originally applied to Michael Murphy, accountant on the site. He first asked me if I could write. I started on a Friday, 3 September 1956. I stayed there until the end of construction. The stores were at the end of the housing block. There were petrol pumps for the vans and trucks. Steel girders were delivered to the store. Receipts were sent up to Michael Murphy. The chief man there was Tom Atkinson".

Patrick O'Leary (Day Worker, retired):

"In late 1956, I worked with M.A.N. in Carrigadrohid and Inniscarra putting in the gate guides. The chief man, Mr Baum, was madly pro-Hitler and you dare not comment on the war. I was paid by the ESB. After finishing with M.A.N., I was lucky that the German firm Voith were starting the following Monday morning and were looking for men. One of Voith's men had no English, but we managed to communicate with each other. I learnt a bit of German and he learnt a bit of English. We got along like that".

Ned Sweeney (Control Room Operator, retired)

"I came from Clare to Inniscarra in January 1956 to start wiring in the control room plant. It was a cold winter's morning on a 350 BSA Gold Star bike. There was ice on the road and I was not familiar with the roadway. I pulled up outside the door in Inniscarra and met Jimmy O'Driscoll. He asked me two questions – where are you from boy? (everybody was addressed as boy.) I said from Clare, and his next question was, when are you going to win an All-Ireland final? It took another thirty-eight years to do so, I suppose. From the office, you could see the big towers, the cables in between and the buckets of cement suspended. They were just putting the finishing touches to the parapet of the dam. I remember over on the left-hand side, you had a commemorative cross about forty feet high, made out of galvanized steel sections and painted blue and white. It commemorated the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. It was put up for SCB, the French firm who built the dam.

I had my first breakfast there for one-and-sixpence. It was all you could eat, bacon, egg and sausage. It closed up a month afterward. The big day did come when G2 gave its first turn. We were all there, waiting expectantly. I was standing by the commutator.