Life & Times of Aodogán O'Rahilly, part 4 ....

Even during years of World War II, the political and business stature of Aodogán O'Rahilly within Irish bureaucracy continued to grow in importance, as shown in this news report.

In the aftermath of WWII, Aodogán O'Rahilly and the managing director of Bord na Móna, (former TDB), visited Sweden to inspect that country's process of producing turf-coal for use in gas works. This business visit was in addition to their pre-WWII excursions to the USSR and Nazi Germany. However, they rejected the Swedish idea and turned instead to producing peat as a fuel to be burned at Ireland's electricity generating stations, and their plan was then put into effect in Ireland over the following decades.

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While we now have more documented information about Aodogán O'Rahilly's personal and business life, compared to next to nothing that will authentically illustrate the life of his son Ronan O'Rahilly, our account is still somewhat sketchy, but will continue to add to his biography as more information becomes available.

Therefore we now move on to the Post-WWII years when much the built-up infrastructure of Europe lay in rubble. For Ireland which had played the hand of neutrality, its economic condition had more to do with British use and abuse of both its people and its land, that it did with Nazi Germany, which had now been laid waste.

​Into this void stepped the movers and shakers of business and politics in the United States of America. That which they had been asked to help destroy by being "over there" once again, they now set out to finance its reconstruction, in turn that provided an opportunity for Aodogán O'Rahily to further his own agenda.

As you can see, Aodogán arrived in New York during January 1946, where he was hoping to conclude a deal, or two with American companies. According to Shaun Boylan [see Part 1], he states that Aodogán O'Rahily had decided to diversify by adding the  manufacture of plasterboard to his concrete tile business.

Unfortunately, again according to Shaun, Aodogán's sales pitch was not successful because he "....met with resistance from American firms, who held the worldwide patent for the machinery to manufacture plasterboard." Shaun then states that Aodogán "overcame that problem by designing and making his own machinery."

More tomorrow, including details of how Aodogán gained control of the old railway station; hotel and dock facility at Greenore.

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