During the summer of 1995, I began to conduct research in the Lower Shannon region. In particular, I was interested in investigating the famed hydroelectric works at Ardnacrusha. However, getting information on the Dam proved to be difficult. With some persistence, and more than a little luck, I secured a personal tour of the facility. My guide was a local man named Seán Craig who had risen to managerial level “on the Scheme.” Seán’s circuitous route to management inspired wonderful anecdotes and insights into the institution’s insular class system, from senior management to the more-or-less blue-collar local workforce. I mentioned to him that I had been finding it difficult to get information on Ardnacrusha. He suggested that “the foreign tourists have seen better,” and as for domestic school tours: “Ardnacrusha is no Disneyland.” Seán added that the institution was “going semi-automatic” in the next couple of years, shedding more than half its workforce and echoing global trends of postindustrial labour flexibility. I asked whether there was any chance of closure and he replied, in a mystical tone, “Ardnacrusha will keep going.”