protectionism

protectionism, or the belief that Irish economic interests were best served by policies which protected native producers against foreign competition, first surfaced in the late 17th century, when Irish interests held British mercantilist policies, such as the Navigation Acts or Cattle Acts, responsible for economic distress. Since then arguments in favour of protection have surfaced on many occasions, most notably in times of economic recession, and the protectionist case has been argued by many Irish writers, including Swift, Berkeley, Mitchel, and Griffith.

Irish nationalists have tended to blame the collapse of many Irish industries during the 19th century, and the high level of emigration after the Great Famine, on the existence of a free‐trading area between Britain and Ireland. The belief that protection would stimulate a revival in the Irish economy gained strength from the opinion that the Irish economy prospered during the final decades of the 18th century, as a result of the protectionist measures made possible by legislative independence. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sinn Féin leader Arthur Griffith provided a blueprint for economic revival which was based on giving protection to ‘infant industries’. Although this gained widespread support at the time, during the years 1922–32 the government of the Irish Free State was loath to embark on widespread protection because of the potential damage to agriculture, the country's largest exporter, and because protection would alienate many established business interests, such as the brewing industry.

In 1932 the incoming Fianna Fáil government embarked on a policy of widespread protection for both agriculture and industry. This was consistent with the party's intense nationalism and with its desire to break the remaining ties with Britain, the main source of Irish imports and the destination of over 90 per cent of exports. It was also in keeping with the policy of cultural protectionism, as expressed by the censorship of films and publications, and indeed with the growth of protectionist measures throughout the world, as a result of the post‐1929 Depression. Although the futility of a small country pursuing such a policy became evident during the Second World War, when the country suffered from shortages of imported fuel, food, raw materials, and manufactured goods, it was continued in the post‐war era.

By this stage, however, world economic trends favoured freer trade. Ireland duly joined GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) but otherwise did nothing to end its protectionist ways. The publication of the White Paper Economic Development in 1958 marked the first official commitment towards freer trade; however moves in that direction were delayed due to Ireland's failure to join the EEC (see European Union) in the early 1960s. The first real steps towards dismantling Irish protective tariffs came only with the 1965 Anglo‐Irish trade agreement, in which the United Kingdom and Ireland undertook to establish a joint free‐trade area by the mid‐1970s. Irish entry to the EEC in 1973 set in train the process of dismantling protective barriers against member countries; this was completed by 1980 despite a significant loss of employment in protected industries during the 1970s.

See also Customs and Excise Free Trade Agitation.

Mary Daly