ABSTRACT
The end of the Second World War was not accompanied, in Ireland, by the rapid upsurge in living standards which many had confidently expected. Indeed, one of the major unanswered questions in Irish economic history is why Ireland did not benefit, to the extent that was apparent in other countries, from the economic growth that accompanied reconstruction in Europe. De Valera’s grip on power was, partly as a result, beginning to weaken, and by the end of 1947 he was thinking in terms of a snap election which would catch his opponents unawares.
