Lecture 15 Ireland: 1957-1972

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Lecture 15 Ireland 1957-1972
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• FF returned to power in 1957 with 77 seats in a
  Dáil of 147 members
• De Valera finally resigned in 1959
• Sean Lemass became party leader and Taoiseach.
• Lemass introduced new and younger blood into the
  party leadership.

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Ireland in the 1950s

• Ireland had been left behind economically and
  socially
• The country had become increasingly poor and
  irrelevant

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Lemass and economic change

• Ironicallythe protectionist apparatus of the
  1930s was in large part the brainchild of Sean
  Lemass, who was Minister for Industry and
  Commerce for most of the years between 1932 and
  1959.
• Lemass was the instigator of not one, but two
  historic reversals of economic policy, one in
  1932 and the other in 1959.
• Garvin, T., Preventing the Future, p7.

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Why was Ireland so poor for so long?

• The Catholic Church blocked economic change
• Mindset of the generation of the national
  revolution
• Clientelist system

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It is no coincidence that Irelands economic
upturn occurred half a generation after the
general Western economic lift-off in 1960 rather
than in 1946 the upturn in Ireland coincided
with, and was permitted by, the fading away of
the generation of the national revolution.Garvi
n, Preventing the Future, p33.
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Economic planning

• May 1958 T.K. Whitakers Economic Development
  delivered to government
• Nov 1958 a White Paper derived from it was
  published under the title Programme for Economic
  Expansion.

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Programme for Economic Expansion

• Regarded as a blueprint for modernization
• Projected a 2 per cent annual increased in GNP
  over the following 5 years.
• Highlighted the need for a change in direction
  away from protectionist policies.
• Called for a five-year investment programme.
• Recognised the importance of foreign investment
  and export led growth.

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The volume of GNP in 1958 was 2.5 below the
level of 1955 and only 6.5 above the level in
1951.From 1960 to 1967 the economy expanded at
a rate of 4 per annum
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Consequences of economic change

• The average annual emigration rate (per 1000 of
  the population) stood at about 14 between 1951
  and 1961.
• It dropped to less than 5 between 1961 and 1971.
• 44,427 emigrated in 1961
• Only 12,226 emigrated in 1963.
• By 1966 the population had risen by 66,000.

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Consequences of economic change

• The standard of living rose
• Progress was made in terms of welfare provision
  for the underprivileged
• The educational system underwent far-reaching
  change secondary education is open to all in
  1966
• Censorship was relaxed
• Irish television service launched in 1961

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Irish family on holiday in the 1960s
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In 1960 female workers received 53 of the male
rate, which was to rise only to 54 in 1969 and
59 in 1971.
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A married woman was still regarded as the chattel
of her husband There was still a marriage bar
for women in the Civil Service Irish women
workers earned only 55 of men's wages Many
widows after a lifetime in the home ended their
days in degrading poverty Attention was needed
to the plight of unwed mothers, deserted wives,
and those with broken marriages.
IWLM manifesto Published in early 1917
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IWLM tactics
Radical confrontation Expressive and spontaneous
action Consciousness raising Demonstrations Effect
ive use of media, including newspaper, radio and
television
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Charles Haughey (centre) with his solicitor and a
friend
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Woman crossing OConnell Street, Dublin, 1969