irish economy

1. Irish Economy
1922-1939
6th Year History

2. The Economic and Social Policies of
Cumann na nGaedheal, 1922-32
 Ernest Blythe was the Minister
for Finance.
 Neither he nor his colleagues
had any experience so they
relied on Civil Servants.
 Joseph Brennan and JJ
McElligott were the most
influential
 Both believed in Free trade
and cautious spending.
 Both believed in concentrating
on agriculture to boost exports

3. Challenges
 Only industrialised part of
Ireland was gone.
 Only 6000 people were
rich enough to pay
income tax.
 Emigration and
unemployment left a large
group of dependents.
 No economic
independence (banking
and currency and over
90% of trade)

4. Agriculture
 Problems:
 Irish farms too small
 Farmers too old.
 Irish food had got a
bad reputation in WW1

5. Attempts to Improve
 Patrick Hogan was
Minister and tried to
improve things by:
 Setting standards for
production and
presentation
 Appointed advisers.
 Set up the ACC
 Land commission bought
land and divided it among
small farmers.
 Up to the great depression,
exports improved.

6. Industry
 Big companies like Guinness, Jacobs and Ford lobbied for free trade
(feared retaliation).
 Blythe agreed, but did introduce some tariffs to protect shoes,
clothes, soap and furniture.
 The Shannon Scheme completed in 1929 by Siemens was a
success.
 However the Shannon Scheme was an exception as the civil
servants were against using foreign investment for big projects.
 They believed the state should not be involved.
 The ESB was set up to distribute electricity and became the model
for future SSBs.

8. Social Policy
 The British had introduced
OAPs and social welfare but
they could afford it.
 Blythe cut the OAP by 1
shilling and made the means
test more difficult.
 They did little to replace the
city slums.
 When the Depression hit, they
cut the pay of public servants.
 The Depression stopped
emigration and unemployment
increased.

9. Assessment
 C na G prudent (balanced the books) but
politically naive.
 Had done little to help the poor while
protecting their richer supporters.
 Wide open to attack from FF.

10. The Economic and Social
Policies of Fianna Fail
 FF’s economic policy was
based on:
 A belief in protectionism
(popular after the depression)
 A desire to be less dependent
on GB for nationalistic
reasons.
 Dismantling the Treaty, which
meant not paying the land
annuities.
 Sean MacEntee was Minister
for Finance 1932-39 and he
introduced many tariffs

11. Economic War
 Tariffs, no land annuities and the removal of the oath maddened the
British.
 They put a tax, equal to the land annuities on Irish cattle.
 FF introduced more tariffs.
 This ‘economic war’ and the Depression reduced Irish exports by
70%.
 The Irish government tried to get farmers to switch to wheat and
sugar beet by using subsidies but this favoured bigger farmers.
 Higher taxes were introduced to pay for the subsidies.
 Tariffs made imported goods more expensive.
 In 1935 both governments agreed the Coal-Cattle Pact but free
trade did not resume until 1938

12. Other Agricultural Policy
 James Ryan was the
Minister and he believed
in self-sufficiency by
getting farmers to grow
wheat and sugar beet.
 Irish Sugar Very
successful
 Wheat not a good idea.

13. Industry
 Sean Lemass was the Minister for Industry and Commerce until
1948
 Under protection new industries grew. They stayed small and never
intended to export.
 1933 Lemass set up the ICC to give loans to industry.
 He set up semi-state bodies like the Irish Sugar Company, Aer
Lingus, Bord Na Mona and Irish Life).
 He allowed monopolies believing that the businesses would not be
set up otherwise.
 In spite of the Depression jobs in industry increased by one third but
it was not enough.
 Emigration stopped for a little while but this was because there
were no jobs in GB because of the Depression.

15. Social Policy
 Unemployment Assistance introduced.
 OAPs increased.
 Pensions for widows and orphans
introduced.
 They built 12,000 local authority houses a
year compared with C na G’s 2000.