Karen Ievers, Tim Crowe, Michael McNamara, David Deighan, Paddy Higgins, Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Cooney, , Louis Fay,St Francis Credit Union, sponsors of the book, and John O’Brien at its official launch. Photograph: John O’Brien
A SOUVENIR book honouring one of Clare’s greatest visionaries has been launched by Sixmilebridge Historical Society.
In July, a life-size statue in memory of Dr Brendan O’Regan was erected in the heart of Sixmilebridge and now a book chronicling the various stages involved in this project from its construction to the unveiling has been released. O’Regan was responsible for the development of Shannon Airport and transforming the Shannon Region, he developed the Shannon Free Zone in 1951.
Tim Crowe, secretary of the Sixmilebridge Historical Society told The Clare Echo, “the purpose of the statue overall was to re-establish the name of Brendan O’Regan and his achievements in the Mid-West, it had been forgotten over the last thirty to forty years with various generations failing to recognise his contributions. The Sixmilebridge Historical Society aimed to remember his legacy starting with primary school students and working up to adults”.
Efforts are ongoing to organise an information night early in 2024 where O’Regan’s achievements will be demonstated to the public. “It is an ongoing process, the booklet was another opportunity to highlight his contribution to the Mid-West”.
500 copies of the souvenir publication have been published and are available in local shops or from any of the Historical Committee.
“This is a process, it is coming from a low ebb because the amount of people that had never heard of him is mind boggling, generations of influential people have failed to inform various generations of what he has achieved,” Tim stated.
Conversations have commenced with officials in the Department of Education to try include O’Regan in future history books at second-level. Tim maintained that the Department “didn’t see fit” to previously include the creator of the first duty-free shop in the world when Sean Lemass and TK Whitaker were included.
Crowe who trained Sixmilebridge to win their first Clare SHC title in 1977 felt it was important to start a conversation about potentially rebranding Shannon Airport to include the name of Dr Brendan O’Regan.
“The word Shannon remaining is very important. I wanted to start a conversation about including the name Brendan O’Regan on the name of Shannon Airport. John Lennon, George Best, Charles de Gauille and John F Kennedy all have airports named after them so I don’t see why Brendan O’Regan can’t. Shannon Airport wouldn’t have remained only for what he achieved”.
