electricity

electricity was first generated on a commercial basis in Ireland in 1880, by the Dublin Electric Light Company. Initially it was used only as a source of lighting; the company supplied street lighting in the centre of Dublin and won contracts from some leading firms such as Jacobs's biscuit factory. In 1883 the Portrush–Giant's Causeway–Bushmills tram service, on the north Antrim coast, established the first electric railway in Ireland. By the 1890s the majority of electricity generating plants were controlled by local authorities, who were also responsible for distributing current, a situation similar to that in Great Britain. In the Irish Free State the Electricity Supply Board gradually acquired a monopoly over generation and distribution. In Northern Ireland, however, although the Electricity Board of Northern Ireland (established 1931) acquired ownership of the smaller companies, Derry and Belfast corporations and the Larne Electric Light and Power Company continued to supply the greater part of the province's current. In 1942, in response to wartime emergencies, the Ministry of Commerce assumed control of all generating plants.

Mary Daly