A bronze statue of Brendan O'Regan has been unveiled in his home village of Sixmilebridge in Co Clare.
He is regarded as an innovator and leader of many of the industrial and tourism developments in the Mid West including the start of Shannon duty free - the first in the world - which has been adopted by hundreds of airports across globe.
Brendan was born in Sixmilebridge in 1917 and went on to become one of the great 'ideas men' of the last century.
He started his professional life working in the hospitality business in hotels across Europe but it was in the Shannon region that he was to make his national and international mark.
In 1947 he embarked on a series of projects which transformed the Shannon region and which were adopted internationally.
He established the concept of the duty free shop at Shannon in 1951, an idea which was then replicated as an airport shopping model in airports, first in Moscow, and later at other airports across the world.
He was also responsible for the development of the Shannon free industrial zone, and for the international school of hotel management, now one of the most sought after in the tourism and hospitality trade. He also established Co-operation Ireland, which worked at fostering co-operation and peace between both the Republic and the North.
The historical society in Sixmilebridge wanted to ensure that his long legacy of industrial vision was not forgotten, and that the impact of his work here and internationally was honoured.
Today, a life-size bronze statue of him was unveiled in the village of his birth following collaboration between the local village and Shannon Chamber, which received substantial funding from the EI plant in the Shannon zone.
The statue was sculpted by Loop Head-based sculptor Seamus Connolly, who has worked on many other bronze life-sized representations in locations across the country, including former GAA star Páidí O'Sé in Ventry, Co Kerry, the Munster and Ireland rugby player Anthony Foley in Limerick and the actor Richard Harris in Kilkee.
Tim Crowe, secretary of the Sixmilebridge historical society, said that very few people under 50 years of age now know who Brendan O'Regan was and of his considerable contribution to innovative industrial development, and the wider benefits he brought to the economy of Shannon and the rest of the country.
"In addition to the statue now being a focus in the village, we are also starting an educational programme about his work in local schools, so a new generation will learn of his legacy as well."
Fr Harry Bohan, who is PP of Sixmilebridge and who knew Brendan well said he would often get a phone call from him at 5am saying: "Harry I have an idea. I would ask could it wait til after 12 when I would say mass. But most of his ideas did come to fruition. He had a great capacity for his investment in people and his powers of collaboration and bringing people with him."
Helen O’Dwyer, CEO of Shannon Chamber, which lead the initiative and the sponsorship drive, said the legacy of Brendan O’Regan was profound and is still being felt right across the Shannon industrial region, where over 7,000 people are employed, and which is still a major driving force for investment in the Mid West.
Three generations of his family travelled from across the world for the ceremony.
His son Declan O’Regan said it was great to be back in his home place where it all started in the family business right in the centre of the village, and wonderful that his legacy was being marked in this way.
His daughter Geraldine Guilfoyle, who now lives in Vancouver, said they were honoured and and humbled by the gesture to locate a statue in Brendan’s home village, a village and home that he always loved, and it was a wonderful gesture by the people of Sixmilebridge.
