The Lemass Governments 1959-1966

1. The Lemass
Governments
• Government, Economy and Society in
the Republic of Ireland
• 1949-1989

2. 1957 Election
• DeValera was 75 when he
became Taoiseach in 1957
• After years of stagnation he
recognised the need for change
• Appointed Sean Lemass
Minister for Industry and
Commerce
• Appointed James Ryan as
Minister for Finance ahead of
the conservative Sean
MacEntee

3. DeV resigns
• In 1959 DeValera
resigned as
Taoiseach and was
elected President –
defeating the FG
candidate
• Sean Lemass is
unopposed as the
new leader of Fianna
Fail

4. Sean Lemass
• 60 years when he became Taoiseach
• Fought in 1916 Rising and the War of
Independence
• Founding member of Fianna Fail in 1926
• Served as a Minister for Industry and
Commerce from 1932 and Minister for
Supplies during the ‘Emergency’
• Brought a new and more dynamic approach
to politics
• (page 274)

5. Approach to Economy
• Lemass supported protectionism and the idea
of self-sufficiency in the 1930s and 1940s
• Realised that it wasn’t working and advocated
change in the 1950s
• Between 1959-1966 Lemass presided over
unprecedented economic expansion
• Helped by favourable external economic
circumstances
• Supported by a new approach by the civil
service

6. TK Whitaker
• Secretary of the Department of Finance in
1956
• Following on from the approach of Gerald
Sweetman, Minister for Finance in the
Second Inter-Party government who
encouraged foreign investment
• In 1958 the Dept of Finance carried out a
comprehensive survey of the Irish Economy
• This report was to lead to a new policy – The
First Programme of Economic Expansion

7. Emerging from Isolation
• Ireland developed new economic links –
especially with Britain and Europe
• Ireland played a bigger role in World Affairs
• Attempted to establish better relations with
Northern Ireland

8. Economic Development
• Ireland applied to join the European
Economic Community (founded in 1957)
• Sean Lemass believed that a small nation
would benefit from closer links with Europe.
• Ireland’s application was linked to a similar
application from Britain – both were blocked
by French President Charles DeGaulle
• Ireland’s application was delayed by 10
years

9. Closer links with Britain
• In 1965 Ireland
signed the Anglo-
Irish Free Trade Area
Agreement with
Britain
• Agreement to
promote trade and
reduce tariffs

10. Ireland and the United
Nations• Lemass expanded Ireland’s role in
international affairs by actively participating in
the United Nations
• In 1960 the Irish ambassador to the UN was
President of the General Assembly
• Ireland was a member of the Security Council
in 1962
• Irish troops participated in a peacekeeping
role in the Congo from 1960-1964
• In all 26 Irish soldiers died in the Congo

11. Irish troops in the Congo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx2Sj1fhSso

12. • At the beginning of
the 1960s Northern
Ireland was seeing
change
• The economy was in
trouble and the
Unionist Party were
losing support
• The Civil Rights
Movement also
emerged in the
1960s
Northern Ireland

13. By 1962 NILP wins
four Unionist seats
Unemployment rising
and support for
Unionist Party
declining
Brookborough forced
to resign –
replaced by
Terence O’Neill
O’Neill becomes Prime Minister

14. O’Neill declared:
‘Our task will be literally to transform
Ulster’
‘make Northern Ireland economically
stronger and prosperous … and to build
bridges between the two traditions within
our community’
O’Neill becomes Prime Minister

15. O’Neill meets Lemass
• 1965 O’Neill invites Lemass to Belfast
• Lemass tells O’Neill: ‘I shall get into
terrible trouble for this’
• O’Neill the one in trouble – didn’t tell his
cabinet until the morning of the meeting
• Protests organised by Ian Paisley

16. O’Neill meets Lemass

17. O’Neill meets Lemass
• O’Neill made reconciliation official policy
• However, only introduced minor reforms
• Tensions around anniversary of 1916
Rising
• UVF reformed - ‘Known IRA men will be
executed mercilessly and without
hesitation’ - killed two innocent Catholics
and elderly Protestant woman

18. Jan. 1964 - The Campaign for Social Justice
in Northern Ireland was formed
1965 Gerry Fitt forms ‘Campaign for
Democracy in Ulster’ - sponsored by sixty
MPs
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
(1967)
Derry Unemployed Action Committee (1965)
Derry Housing Association (1967)
Civil Rights Movement in
Northern Ireland