Dublin opinions : Dublin newspapers and the crisis of the fifties

Dublin journalism was well served by three national newspapers and a coterie of
weeklies and irregular publications during the period 1948-1962. In this paper, the
different 'takes' on the perceived crisis in the Irish economy and polity of the mid-fifties
are analysed. It is concluded that the Irish Independent and the Irish Times
adhered to almost identical positions of agrarian fundamentalism until very late on
during this crucial decade in Ireland's political and economic development. It is also
argued that the case for non-farm employment as Ireland's true future was most
consistently and energetically made by the Irish Press, essentially the mouthpiece
of Sean Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1945 to 1948, 1951 to
1954, 1957 to 1959 and Taoiseach thereafter. The awareness that Ireland had to
diversify economically was behind the foundation in 1949-50 of the Industrial Development
Authority under the auspices of Daniel Morrissey of Fine Gael. All major
parties were deeply divided on the issue of economic development. It is also concluded
that the sense of a real social and cultural crisis was intense at the time, and
the awareness that an old Ireland had to die that a new one might be born was
strong.