9781904558293
Distributed for University College Dublin Press
The Lemass Era
Politics and Society in the Ireland of Sean Lemass
"The Age of Lemass" focuses on the impact of Sean Lemass on Irish politics and society between 1945 and 1973. Although Lemass had been active in Irish politics from 1916 and became Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1932 in the first de Valera government, the essays here suggest that his influence was greatest after 1945. Lemass developed his thinking to meet the challenges of the post-war world, and although he was sixty in 1959, he sought to modernize Irish society. Thus it can be argued that his influence on contemporary Ireland was greater than that of de Valera.
© 2005
Table of Contents
Foreword by John Horgan Brian Girvin and Gary Murphy, Whose Ireland? The Lemass era Political and party competition in post-war Ireland, Niamh Puirseil From economic nationalism to European Union, Gary Murphy Emigration, political cultures and the evolution of post-war Irish society, Enda Delaney Ireland and the productivity drive of post-war Europe, Peter Murray The ’mainstreaming’ of Irish foreign policy, Maurice FitzGerald Northern Ireland and cross-border co-operation, Michael Kennedy Church, state and the moral community, Brian Girvin The politics of educational expansion, John Walsh A semi-state in all but name? Sean Lemass’s film policy, Roddy Flynn Introducing television in the age of Sean Lemass, Robert Savage Notes Bibliography Index.