Ireland

D

Republic of Ireland (1949- )

On Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, the anniversary of the Easter Rebellion, Éire declared itself the Republic of Ireland, completely independent of the British crown and no longer a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. In May the British Parliament recognized Ireland’s status as a republic but declared that the six counties of Northern Ireland would not be severed from the United Kingdom without the assent of the parliament in Northern Ireland.

The transition from Éire to the Republic of Ireland was of chiefly symbolic significance, marking the achievement of a goal sought by Irish nationalists for generations. The United Kingdom allowed Ireland to retain the economic benefits of Commonwealth membership, and it extended to Irish citizens living in the United Kingdom the same rights as British citizens. Ireland granted British citizens residing in the republic similar benefits. Nevertheless, the continued partition of Ireland strained the republic’s relations with the United Kingdom. As a protest against partition, the republic declined to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), since this would have entailed entering into a military alliance with the United Kingdom.

In the republic’s first national election in 1951, de Valera returned as prime minister. De Valera’s willingness to accept an independent country that did not include the six counties of Northern Ireland provoked renewed protests from the IRA. During the 1950s the IRA organized armed raids and ambushes along the border of Northern Ireland. De Valera was forced to take repressive action against the IRA while simultaneously protesting the continuation of partition.

More pressing than the question of partition, however, were the social and economic problems that beset the republic. Particularly serious was the constant loss of young people, who continued to leave the country by the tens of thousands annually in search of greater opportunities in the United Kingdom and the United States. In an effort to assist the agricultural population, and to stem the flow of farm workers to the cities and foreign countries, the de Valera government began an ambitious program of rural electrification and promoted new measures to stimulate local industry.

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D

1

Economic Stabilization and Growth

Although inflation and an unfavorable balance of trade continued to trouble the country’s economy, Ireland made significant strides toward economic stability through the 1950s and 1960s. The republic gradually abandoned protectionist economic policies in favor of long-term planning aimed at fostering economic expansion and international trade. A key figure in this strategy was Irish civil servant T. G. Whitaker, whose ideas were embodied in a study published during de Valera’s last government of 1957 to 1959. De Valera’s successor as prime minister, Sean Lemass, instituted Whitaker’s reforms. Under Lemass the government drew up a five-year plan for economic development that included generous tax incentives for foreign investors and new initiatives to promote Ireland’s export industries.

By 1964, upon completion of the first five-year plan, Ireland’s economic expansion had doubled anticipated growth goals. Partly as a result of such planning, the rate of economic growth increased from about 1 percent per year in the 1950s to more than 4.5 percent in the late 1960s. During this period hundreds of new factories opened production in Ireland, most with some foreign ownership. The dramatic increase in industrial production and exports accompanied a substantial decline in emigration, which had continued unabated for more than a century.

D

2

Political Developments

The transformation of Ireland’s economy also involved a rethinking of Ireland’s relationship with its largest trading partner, the United Kingdom. An important aspect of this change was the emergence of growing opposition to the IRA, whose terrorist activities were seen by many as damaging to Irish-British relations and likely to prolong partition of the island. As early as 1957 Irish prime minister John Costello had called for forceful action against the IRA. De Valera, who succeeded Costello after the 1957 national elections, publicly agreed that Ireland’s unification with Northern Ireland could not be achieved by force.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s Ireland, under Prime Minister Lemass and his successor, Jack Lynch, cultivated closer ties to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. When the United Kingdom applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1961, Ireland—heavily dependent on British markets for its agricultural exports—had little choice but to follow suit. In 1965 the United Kingdom abolished virtually all remaining tariffs on Irish goods, and Ireland agreed to do the same for the United Kingdom over a period of 15 years. In 1973, after several setbacks, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community (EC), a successor of the EEC.

The republic’s growing prosperity stimulated profound changes in Irish society, culture, and politics. Consumer spending increased, and many Irish began to question traditional values, including the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, Irish nationalism became politically less important than social and economic issues, leading to new tensions over the meaning of Irish identity.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland were virtually at war, Prime Minister Lynch adhered to a policy of gradualism in the aim of Irish reunification. He took steps to curb the IRA, which used the Republic of Ireland as a base for attacks on the north, and to make the republic secular. In 1972 Irish voters approved a constitutional amendment that abolished the special position of the Roman Catholic Church in the republic.

A coalition of Fine Gael and the Labour Party gained a slim majority in the 1973 national election and Fine Gael leader Liam Cosgrave became prime minister. In 1977 Fianna Fáil returned to power in a government headed by Lynch; in 1979 he was replaced by Charles Haughey.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s the Irish government faced several difficult problems, including increased terrorism in the north and a weakening economy that produced growing unemployment, massive budget deficits, and rising foreign debt. A coalition government led by Garret FitzGerald, head of Fine Gael, briefly came to power following the national election in 1981. An inconclusive election in 1982 returned Haughey to power, but another election, in late 1982, brought FitzGerald back.

In 1985 FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement with the United Kingdom, a pact giving the Republic of Ireland a consultative role in governing Northern Ireland. FitzGerald remained prime minister until 1987, when he was replaced by Haughey, whose government had a single-vote majority in the Dáil. High inflation, high taxes, and large budget deficits declined after Haughey broadly cut social welfare expenditures in 1987, and robust growth in Ireland’s export sector helped reduce the country’s high foreign debt during the mid- and late 1980s.

E

Ireland Since 1990

Ireland’s economy continued to expand rapidly throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century, earning it the title Celtic Tiger. At the same time, new efforts to achieve a political solution to the problem of Northern Ireland brought the Irish and British governments into closer cooperation than at any time in the past.

E

1

Government

In November 1990, without the endorsement of the major parties, Mary Robinson was elected president of Ireland. A champion of women’s rights and civil liberties, Robinson was the first woman to hold so high an office in the country. For many in Ireland, Robinson’s election was an important symbol of social change. Robinson resigned the post in 1997 to become the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Charles Haughey resigned as prime minister and leader of Fianna Fáil in early 1992, amid allegations that he had known about illegal telephone tapping ordered by one of his ministers in a previous administration; Haughey’s former finance minister, Albert Reynolds, was chosen to replace him. Reynolds remained prime minister after the elections of November 1992, but at the head of a coalition government made up of Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party.

In November 1994 the coalition government collapsed over disagreements regarding Reynolds’s appointment of a controversial attorney general, a move that led the Labour Party to withdraw its support of Fianna Fáil. A new coalition government was formed, headed by Prime Minister John Bruton of the Fine Gael Party. The coalition was composed of members of Fine Gael, the Labour Party, and the Democratic Left. Bruton proclaimed that his top priority was to establish a viable peace in Northern Ireland.

In early 1997 Bruton’s government faced a growing political crisis following revelations of a corruption scandal involving members of the Irish parliament and sharp criticism of Bruton’s handling of peace negotiations for Northern Ireland. Bruton called a national election for June, and his three-party coalition government won just 75 seats in the 166-seat Dáil Éireann (lower house of parliament), compared to 81 for the opposition coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democratic Party. Although neither group secured the 84 seats needed for an overall majority, the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition gained enough support in the Dáil to elect Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern to the post of prime minister. Ahern and his governing coalition returned to power following the national election in May 2002, in which Fianna Fáil won 81 seats and the Progressive Democrats won 8 seats. Ahern led Fianna Fáil to victory again in May 2007, when the party won 78 seats. However, the Progressive Democrats lost seats in the election, and Ahern formed a coalition that included the Green Party for his third term in office. In April 2008 Ahern announced his intention to resign as prime minister the following month, and Fianna Fáil chose Brian Cowen to succeed Ahern as party leader. Accordingly, Cowen became the new prime minister in May.

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