Why was Ireland So Poor for so long ? - Preventing the future

Tom Garvin wrote this thought provoking book in 2004/5.
From the mid-30s to 1960, independent Ireland suffered economic stagnation and also went through a period of intense cultural and psychological repression. While external circumstances accounted for some of the malaise, the central argument in Preventing the Future is that internal circumstances and choices were the principal cause of ireland's social and economic drift. A negative błocking coalition of Church, small farmers and an ageing political elite retarded development for a generation.

Make no mistake about it, this is an academic page turner and as provocative a read as it is scholarly and challenging Tom Garvin, using his accomplished and characteristic combination of history and political science, sets out to discuss the simple question: why was Ireland to poor for so long?... Reading Tom Garvin's book would make a good start on the road to developing a deeper sense of citizenship... It may come to be regarded as a classic of its kind. It ought to be required reading... if only to show that the slowness of Irish development was substantially a self-inflicted but not fatal wound, which can't be blamed on the British empire or, for that matter, the Rolling Stones

Seventy years ago science was made optional in primary schools to allow more time for the Irish language even though many of the pupils could hardly read English. The state deliberately neglected technical education, with the Education Minister in the early 1950s stating that, after religious formation. the inculcation of patriotism is the second great goal of education. These are just some of the stunning observations that tumble off every page in this great book.

Fom Garvin is professor of Politics at University College Dublin.