Skip to content

Kitchen Power Audio Station 5: Managing Cost and Housework

Listen to these clips from the oral history interviews, with Irish women talking about their memories of managing housework and the costs of electricity:
 
Noreen Durken interviewed by Mary O’Reilly about the daily routine before the arrival of electricity in Ballintubber, County Mayo, December 2016
Chrissy O’Driscoll interviewed by Brigid O’Brien about getting the house in Drinagh, County Cork wired for the first time, January 2018
Anne O’Connor interviewed by Brigid O’Brien about her mother blessing the plugs in the house in Unionhall, County Cork, January 2018
Josephine Helly interviewed by Lynda Dunne about the effect of turning on the one light switch for the first time in Oldcastle, County Meath, April 2018
Kathleen McQuillan interviewed by Geraldine O’Connor about getting the ESB meter read and paying the ESB bill in Clones, County Monaghan, February 2017
Leo Shaughnessy interviewed by Mary O’Reilly about buying appliances on hire purchase in Castlebar, County Mayo, December 2016
Rose MacHugh interviewed by Eleanor Calnan about getting one plug installed and later getting the first washing machine in the area, April 2018
Mary Ann Egan interviewed by Lynda Dunne about getting a clothes dryer with four babies in nappies, October 2017
Josephine interviewed by Lynda Dunne about saving up to buy a twin tub, October 2017
Mary Coen interviewed by Alison Mac Cormaic about financial strategies for buying an electric cooker, November 2017
Delo interviewed by Sorcha O’Brien about unused electrical presents from emigrant relatives, June 2017
Marie Landy interviewed by Rachel Botha about doing crafts instead of housework in Kilkenny, June 2017
Maura McGuinness interviewed by Mary O’Reilly about knitting jumpers for money on the Aran Islands, December 2016
Hannah Mai Allman interviewed by Eleanor Calnan about using electricity to light the Sacred Heart lamp and heat incubators for chickens and banbhs (piglets) in Tralee, County Kerry, April 2018
Noreen Brady interviewed by Geraldine O’Connor about her mother cutting the legs off an iron pot to fit it into her new electric oven in Newbliss, County Monaghan, February 2017

Sign up to our newsletter

Keep up to date

Receive updates on the latest exhibitions