JJ Lee's Reason's for Irish Economic Failure in Ireland, 1912-1985

brian1991

Hi, can anybody help me summarise JJ Lee's account of the reason's for Irish economic failure in his mammoth history book, Ireland, 1912-1985? It seems from my research so far that he highlights the parts played by economic and policy makers and the lack of entrepreneurship in Ireland.

Valetta

brian1991 wrote: »

Hi, can anybody help me summarise JJ Lee's account of the reason's for Irish economic failure in his mammoth history book, Ireland, 1912-1985? It seems from my research so far that he highlights the parts played by economic and policy makers and the lack of entrepreneurship in Ireland.

I've not heard of this book or author, but I would seriously question whether we had "economic failure" up to 1985.

dubhthach

Valetta wrote: »

I've not heard of this book or author, but I would seriously question whether we had "economic failure" up to 1985.

Well you should read it, by far one of the best pieces on the period in my own personal opinion. The author is currently a professor in NYU (New York University)

Professor of Irish Studies , History ; Director, Irish Studies; Glucksman Professor of Irish Studies

jos28

If you look at Lee's collaboration with Gearóid O'Tuathaigh called The Age of de Valera I think you might find it easier to summarise. According to the authors, de Valera's vision of Ireland was a stark contrast to the reality. After 10 years of de Valera in government, 25,000 young Irish men and women were leaving the country every year. They also point out that his economic policies were geared towards small scale, localised agriculture and industry and as such Ireland fell behind the rest of the world in terms of economic progress. The situation was worsened by the trade war with Britain and the imposition of taqriffs. The FF education system concentrated on Irish language, history and culture leaving a generation of school leavers ill-equipped for the industrialised world. It could be argued that economic progress of the new State was stumped from that point onwards. The book I mentioned was made into a series by RTE and may be available online or from the RTE archive.

thecommietommy

I'm certainly no fan of Dev nor what Fianna Fail has evolved into, but for it's first 15 years or so there is very much to be admired about them, remaining neutral in WW2 been one of them. Let's look at the hand that was dealt to this state since partition in 1922.

No one had a magic wand to undo the damage the Brits had been doing to the country for centuries in just a decade or two. Then the Great depression, which started towards the end of 1929 effectively shut down Irish emigration to Britain and the US resulting in mass unemployment and growing social unrest. The Cosgrave Administration had no answer to this except more of the same economic policies it had implemented since independence which basically involved maximising Ireland's agricultural exports to Britain and frugal spending. The overwhelming FF victory in the 1932 general election was won on the back of massive public discontent with Cosgrave and the appeal of FF's "new deal" type industrial policy which mandated developing Irish industry behind tariff barriers.

Ireland was one of the few countries where employment actually grew during the depression years so these policies did have some success but in hindsight we can see that the internal market in Ireland would never be big enough to to support large scale industry which is why Ireland now has an export orientated economy.

Chazz Michael Michaels

Valetta wrote: »

I've not heard of this book or author, but I would seriously question whether we had "economic failure" up to 1985.

Apart from the 20's and 60's, I think we had.