inhabitants, and found that the C.D.B. head, Bishop O'Donnell of Raphoe, had indirectly applied grants towards the buildings. One legacy of the C.D.B. was the Co-Operative movement which was founded by Sir Horace Plunkett who had been shocked by his experiences working as a member of the first Board. A great achievement for the board was the enlargement and improvement of holdings. This involved the board purchasing land from larger estates and expanding the properties in order to create smaller more efficient holdings. The French estate, near Ballygar in County Galway, was the board’s first purchase of land. The land cost the board £7,600, by 1919 the board had spent a total of ten million pounds on land. The amelioration of The Dillion Estate in the counties Galway and Roscommon is a great example of the Congested District Boards work. In 1899 the board purchased the Dillion Estate of over 93,652 acres which valued £290,000, the largest price paid by the CDB for any one estate. The majority of the holdings on this estate had poor drainage and poor land which were accustomed to constant flooding. The board solved this issue by investing in large scale drainage operation which also doubled the productive value of hundreds of acres across the estates. They also did work on the roads, fencing and created houses. Baron Ardilaun's estate, Lord Bingham's estate, the Marquess of Clanricarde's estate and Viscount Dillon's estate were among the many estates purchased by the C.D.B.. The Congested District Board has had a crucial impact on the fishing industry in the congested districts. The C.D.B spent over £100,000 in construction works, including marine works for example, the building of harbours, piers, roads, bridges and drainage works. This work was undertaken to offer facilities and resources to fishermen, farmers and gardeners. The board worked with the fishing industry providing instruction on barrel making, net making and boat building. The board provided ninety-one decked fishing boats around Ireland and twenty-three of these boats were built on the coast of Connemara and in Killybegs in County Donegal. These boats were valued at £15,000 without any nets or gear Modern assessment Irish historian Joseph Lee in his book The Modernisation of Irish Society evaluated the C.D.B. in the following words: "The Board's promise, in short, generally far exceeded its performance". He pointed out that the C.D.B. invested heavily in uneconomic projects in the west