The story of rural bungalows dotted around Donegal will be shared in a new documentary airing this week on TG4.
‘100 Bliain de Thithíocht – Géarchéim gan Deireadh’, airing on Wednesday at 9.30pm, is a decade-by-decade look at how Irish housing issues have been tackled since the birth of the Irish state and where it all went so wrong.
This film explores housing styles from the birth of the state, the flats of the 30s to the high-rise of the 60s. From the bungalows of the 70s to the bubble of the 00s.
In the 1970s, a small book of architectural designs called Bungalow Bliss changed the landscape in Ireland forever.
In Donegal, they had their own version of Bungalow Bliss.
Architect, Tarla MacGabhann explains how and why his father came up with a selection of bungalow designs that were better suited for Donegal.
The makers of this documentary spoke with Áine Curran who grew up in one of these houses, her family were one of the thousands of emigrants who returned to live in Donegal in the 1970s.
Auctioneer Éamon McBride talks about the legacy of the bungalow in rural Donegal.
A host of historians, architects, planners and thinkers have been carefully selected to give new insight into Ireland’s housing concepts.
This rich archive is presented in a new light and includes revealing and heartening insights from real people throughout the decades, building a picture of how housing policies affected ordinary people.
As well as this, a line-up of the great thinkers on the topic are assembled to explain their ideas for the future of housing in Ireland.
100 Bliain de Thithíocht – Géarchéim Gan Deireadh airs on 25 October 2023 on TG4 at 9.30pm
Also available on the TG4 Player (tg4.ie)
