Commentary
Desmond Fennell, ‘Irish Socialist Thought,’ in The Irish Mind, ed. Richard Kearney (1985): ‘Vandeleur had heard Owen lecture in Dublin in 1823, and was converted to his ideas. After visits to Owen
in England and correspondence with him, he decided to establish a cooperative village on his untenanted 600-acre estate at Ralahine, near Bunratty; built comfortable stone cottages, dormitories for single men and women, a store, a school, a large ding-room, and a meeting room. In 1831 he persuaded Edward Thomas Craig, ed. of Lancashire Coperator, to be manager [and formed with tenants] the Ralahine Agricutlural and Manufacturing Cooperative Association [...] The community prospered till Vandeleur lost all he owned at gambling and lest suddenly for America. The Vandeleur family resumed direct possession of Ralahine and evicted the community without compensition’
(p.193).
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