Today & Tomorrow

The Victorian period brought an important development - electricity. Electrification became a major requirement for the fledgling Republic and in 1948 the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) completed the construction of a dam, 24 metres high and 100 metres wide, creating a 100-acre lake, submerging the Salmon Leap but creating 38,000V of electricity for transmission.

Closure (1997 marks the 100th anniversary) and amalgamation of the railways was paralleled by the development of motor transport. These forces began to be felt in the 1970's with the construction of new housing estates in the village, it's major employer a meat-packaging plant, creating a dormitory satellite for Dublin. Consolidation of the meat industry brought closure of the plant and the town's only other major employer, a light bulb factory closed with the advent of cheaper imports.

Government intervention and a new industry, computers, led to the location of the Intel facility. The microprocessor manufacturer has meant 4,000 new jobs and an inward investment of more than £1 billion. Intel has been joined by Hewlett-Packard's ink cartridge facility under the shadow of the Wonderful Barn, creating more than 1,000 additional jobs. Leixlip is now one of the fastest growing towns in Ireland and the largest in Kildare, with a total population estimated at 15,000 and 4,000 households.

These hi-tech industries are creating a new Leixlip, historic developments on historic grounds, surrounded by waters which have seen much human drama, an international perspective on a world no longer divided by hedgerows, race, colour or creed but united in knowledge, brought together through intelligence and information. In Cyberspace. From Leixlip.

The Beginning | The Vikings | The Normans | The Anglo-Normans | Future