Economy in the 1950s

• Protectionism – imposing tariffs on imports• Irish industry was inefficient• Imports cost more than exports – trade

defecit• Unemployment increased• 50,000 people emigrated every year during

1950s

The Lemass Years1959-66

• Donough O’Malley • Jack Lynch

The First Programme for Economic Expansion

Aim: To attract foreign industry into Ireland

How?• By offering them grants to set up here• No tax on profits• Providing the facilities needed by building

industrial estates• To give grants to Irish firms

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Results – 1960s boom

• Many American, Japanese and British industries came to Ireland.

• Unemployment increased• Emigration decreased• The population increased for the first time

since the Famine

Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement, 1965

• Removed all tariffs on Irish industrial exports• Gradually removed tariffs on British imports

Result:Between 1960-68 over 600 firms set up in

Iteland

Free Education

Donough O’Malley• Free secondary education

for all children• Free school transport for all

second level pupils

Result:A well- educated workforce to fill the new jobs provided by foreign companies

North-South Relations

• Lemass visited O’Neill in Belfast

• Co-operation was encouraged in tourism and agriculture

• O’Neill returned the gesture by visiting Lemass in Dublin

RTÉ

• RTÉ first broadcast on 31 December 1961

• Change in attitude of society – exposure to British and American cultures

• Social issues were debated for the first time on The Late Late Show

The Catholic Church• In the early 1960s the

Catholic Church had a powerful influence over Irish society

Vatican Council 1958:• The debate within the

Church encouraged ordinary Catholics to question the teachings of the church

Pope John XXIII