The Shannon Industrial Zone Is No Longer Round

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The shannon industrial zone is still round, but it's no longer special. The fence is gone, and since two thousand five so too are the special tax breaks. O'regan died in two thousand eight at the age of 90, but his legacy goes beyond his contribution to ireland's economic development. Listening to those oral histories, hou gut the sense that o'regan's real goal was something at once simpler and more complicated, pride.

On the west coast of Ireland, on the banks of an estuary dividing county Limerick from county Clare, lies a small town called Shannon. But Shannon is not a quaint fishing village or farming community. Its industry is its airport. And Shannon Airport is big. It handles up to 1.7 million passengers and 20,000 flights a year, most of them from other countries. It looks like a cosmopolitan international airport, but it has a unique claim to fame: the world's first airport duty-free store.

Today, the store has what you would expect -- designer perfumes, jewelry and various fine foods, with a lot of local (in this case Irish) products in particular. But like the area around the airport, the shop started out small, with a local boy from the area who would go on to change the world of tax-free commerce in and beyond Shannon.

Call of Duty: Free