Stephen Collins: Let’s not get too carried away with nostalgia for the 1950s

The President’s aversion to economic growth and the globalisation of trade appears to have struck a chord with many people if the letters columns of this newspaper are any yardstick. It seems his desire for a shift in the national focus from material progress to ethics and a more balanced relationship with nature is widely shared.

But wait a minute: haven’t we been down that road before? Go back to the 1950s, and Ireland was a country that had turned its back on free trade in the belief that it would result in a protectionist paradise. It also prided itself on a spiritual culture that contrasted with the materialistic aspirations of “godless England”.

The architect of that Ireland was Éamon de Valera who, in his famous St Patrick’s Day broadcast of 1943, outlined the Arcadian dream of a country which “would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as the basis of right living, of a people who were satisfied with frugal comfort”.

The problem was that people were not a bit satisfied with frugal comfort and they left the country in their droves for England and United States. The haemorrhage of young people fleeing our shores saw the population fall to its lowest level, with just 2.8 million people living in the State by 1961.

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The emigrants fled because the lack of growth had resulted in a poverty-stricken society with little or no job prospects outside the public service and a stifling conformity that led many to wonder if Irish independence had actually been a huge mistake.

That process of self-analysis resulted in a reversal of policy, with the State dismantling of protectionism and embracing free trade. It began under minister for finance Gerard Sweetman, who in 1956 appointed Ken Whitaker to head the Department of Finance at the age of just 39, and it was taken up by Seán Lemass when he succeeded de Valera as taoiseach in 1959.

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A few figures illustrate the difference between then and now. In 1960 the income per head of population here, as measured by the World Bank, was $685 a year, while in the UK it was more than double that at $1,398. Fast forward to 2021 and the figure for Ireland is $100,172, while the UK was less than half that at $46,510.

Even allowing for fact that Irish economic figures are distorted by the impact of multinational companies locating their profits here, the transformation in the relative wealth of the two countries has been astonishing. That is why the population of the State has almost doubled from 2.8 million in 1961 to 5.2 million today.

Growth is not some abstract end in itself but the means by which the lives of people can be improved

The economic growth that fuelled this progress is about far more than income per head. Back in the 1950s average life expectancy was in the early 60s, while it has now risen by almost 20 years to 82. Infant mortality in 1950 was 45 per 1,000 live births; by last year it was just under two, making Ireland one of the safest places in the world to be born.

The transformation of Irish society from one where poverty was endemic, the health service rudimentary, and education past primary school restricted to those who could pay for it became possible because of economic growth generated by the embrace of the free trade international order. That has enabled the country to become one of the most successful exporting nations on the planet.

The current problems facing our neighbour across the water illustrate what happens when growth slows or stops. Back in the 1960s the UK was the envy of the world with its welfare state and free health service for all, allied to full employment. Now it has become “broken Britain”.

After two decades of low growth the British National Health Service is under enormous strain and the quality of public services is in decline. The country’s leaders are wrestling with the problem of how to find a path back to growth to provide its people with a better standard of living. The point is that growth is not some abstract end in itself but the means by which the lives of people can be improved.

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The same process that transformed Ireland has been going on across most of the globe over the past three decades. Billions of people have been taken out of poverty and seen their living standards enhanced because of the benefits of international trade.

The downside is that the strain on resources is clearly having a damaging impact on the planet, and serious efforts to halt, or even reverse, the process have not been enough. Progress on tackling climate change has been too slow and a far more determined effort is required at international level to turn the tide, but if human history is any guide solutions will be found.

To simply forget about growth and return to protectionist policies would set Ireland on the road back to a 1950s-style future. For much of the world’s population it would be even worse, with a return to the dire poverty and starvation that has characterised the lives of a majority of the population for most of human history.