ABSTRACT
Given that agriculture dominated the economy of the Irish Free State, it was hardly surprising that economic development policies initially focused largely on this sector. Raymond Crotty’s assertion that ‘independence of itself did little to change the fundamentals of the Irish economy’1 was particularly pertinent with regard to agriculture. The great significance attached to agricultural exports provided the main incentive to retain free trade, in opposition to those revolutionary nationalists who were advocating protectionism. This reflected two important advantages that Irish farmers had in international terms; first, they enjoyed a comparative advantage in livestock farming, which was provided by the conducive nature of the climate. Second, Great Britain conveniently accounted for most of the world market for meat in 1930, accounting for 95 per cent of mutton and lamb entering international trade, 90 per cent of bacon and hams and 70 per cent of beef. Ireland was well situated geographically to service this demand and livestock exports had become the staple trade of southern Ireland during the nineteenth century. According to O’Donovan, five-sixths of Irish livestock output was exported to Britain by 1930 and about 41 per cent of the cattle slaughtered in Britain were of Irish origin. These factors go a long way to explaining why livestock and livestock products accounted for over 73 per cent of the value of Irish agricultural output in 1929-30. Of the 14.3 million acres of land used for agricultural purposes at this point in time, 82.5 per cent was under grass and meadow and a mere 17.5 per cent was under crops.2
