Ireland’s Economy By Michael Kass

Britain Gains Control English Rule started in the late 1100’s King Henry VIII changed Ireland from Lordship to Kingdom In the 16 th and 17 th centaury Ireland was under the plantation system After the rebellion of 1798, Britain, Ireland and Scotland merged together

The Economy Pre-Famine The Economy was mainly agriculturally and textile based at this time, and it was on the decline – The meat prices were dropped by close to 50% – Grain prices were dropping between 40%-50% “A detailed enquiry into rural poverty reported in 1836 that an agricultural labourer could on average count on 134 days of paid employment in a year.” – University of College Cork The two major textiles, cotton and wool, were failing due to technological deficiencies. Meanwhile Linen was thriving in the Northeast

The Great Famine This refers to the great loss of potatoes mainly between the years of Potatoes were Ireland’s main source of food for the rural poor It is believed that by million people had died and another million had fled the country Potato yields (in tons) – 1844(pre-famine): 15 mil – 1845: 10 mil – 1846: 2 mil – 1847: 2 mil – 1848: 3 mil – 1849: 4 mil

Start of Industrialization Ireland was behind the rest of Europe with Industrialization South Ireland started to industrialize in the 1920’s, by focusing on exports During WWII Northern Ireland started becoming a big producer for shipbuilding, engineering and textiles

Protectionism Ends The economy got opened up to foreign trade and investors in the 1960’s The GDP and GNP were both rising Employment was on the rise The oil crisis of the late 70’s hurt their economy

The Celtic Tiger Very large economic growth in the 1990’s and 2000’s Foreign companies poured into Ireland as an easy access point to Europe – They counted for 47% of workforce Ireland had the 2 nd highest GDP in EU Almost 1 million new jobs were created during this time – 1.1 mil in 1990, 1.9 mil in 2005 Ireland became self-sufficient from England for the first time

The Economy Now Ireland’s economy is doing very poorly now The public debt to GDP ratio is 174% Unemployment rate is 14.4% Irish property bubble popped, similar to America People have been leaving the country – Roughly 40,000

Sources 1. world/ireland.aspxhttp:// world/ireland.aspx 2. 5ndash1870http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Ireland_society_and_economy_181 5ndash factbook/geos/ei.htmlhttps:// factbook/geos/ei.html 5. ireland-became-the-celtic-tigerhttp:// ireland-became-the-celtic-tiger