The politics of economic realignment, Ireland 1948 - 1964

This dissertation analyses the transformation of Irish economic policy formulation from the formation of the first inter-party government in 1948 to the breakdown of Ireland’s application to join the EEC in 1963 and its immediate consequences. Based on extensive research in departmental files, and the personal papers of politicians and other policy players, and interviews with officials, businessmen and others who were active during the period, the study has a dual approach. It offers a historical analysis of the route Irish policy makers took in moving economic policy from a protectionist framework to one in which interdependence with other economies was assumed. The study also discusses the influence of trade unions, employers’ groups and farmers’ organisations on policy and on each other and charts shifts in their thinking on key issues of economic management. It is argued that their dealings with government during this period marked the inception of a corporatist style approach to national policy making. This thesis argues that changes in thinking at both a governmental and a nongovernmental level led Ireland to adopt an interdependent approach to economic policy making. While some policy makers were reluctant to accept any form of multilateral trading arrangements which would alter protected industry and the country’s privileged access to British markets, the severe economic crisis that affected Ireland throughout the 1950s led to the adoption of fresh economic thinking both within and outside the civil service