ABSTRACT
Much attention has been given in Ireland, as in many other countries, to the increase in average living standards made possible by economic growth and development. In the 1960s the slogan that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ was used to justify a very strong focus on growth. But concerns about the distribution of the benefits of growth, the persistence of high rates of unemployment, and the adequacy of incomes for individuals dependent on the social welfare system re-emerged particularly strongly during the 1980s and 1990s.
