The Industrialization Of Rural Ireland In The 1940s And 1950s

In Hasia R. Diner’s book Erin’s Daughters In America she discussed the history of the lives of Irish immigrants, specifically women, before the Famine and after they emigrated to the United States. After the Famine, Irish citizens had to make drastic changes in their lives in order to survive, such as having more variety in food and the crops that they grew, and changing their marriage patterns and how often they had children. Many people even decided to immigrate to America, the majority of which were women. When Irish women came to America their lives were greatly revolutionized when they were forced to adopt new economic opportunities by finding a job quickly and gaining economic stability, and they had to modify their marriage patterns by getting married later in life, if they got married at all.

     Nineteenth-century Ireland was the most densely populated country in Europe: in 1800, its population was 4.5 million, and by 1841, it had risen to eight million (Kinealy 15). Yet much of this population existed in condition of sorrow and misery lay in the dependence of the peasantry on just one staple crop, the potato; in western countries like Mayo and Galway, nine-tenths of the people ate nothing else (MacManus 602). Here was a disaster waiting to happen, made worst by the rapid rise in population in the first half of the century which forced the peasants to subsist on smaller plots of land (O Grada, The Great Irish Famine 63).

K.H. Connell, in his paper “Land and Population in Ireland, 1780-1845”, describes and explains the significant population growth in Ireland prior to the famine of 1845 and how the uses of the Irish land changed with the population growth.

The book, “The Irish Way” by James R. Barrett is a masterpiece written to describe the life of Irish immigrants who went to start new lives in America after conditions at home became un-accommodative. Widespread insecurity, callous English colonizers and the ghost of great famine still lingering on and on in their lives, made this ethnic group be convinced that home was longer a home anymore. They descended in United States of America in large numbers. James R. Barrett in his book notes that these people were the first group of immigrants to settle in America. According to him, there were a number of several ethnic groups that have arrived in America. It was, however, the mass exodus of Irish people during and after the great

The Irish people would have freight, terror, death and eventually peace with these changes. The potato famine started with blight being discovered by European farmers. The Irish government started to export potatoes and grains to continental Europe to help the Europeans avoid a famine (Smith, 2011). By the end of August of 1845, Ireland was freighted to find out that blight had found its way to their produce (Smith, 2011). The blight in Ireland set off a chain of events that led to the Irish people dying in more ways to get out of Ireland. The government started trying to feed their people by importing corn and grains for food (Smith, 2011). This was not enough to help the young, old and sick. Many of theIrish people were led to complete financial ruin. By the end of 1851 more than a million Irish had died due to hunger and disease exacerbated by malnutrition(Smith, 2011).The only answer for many Irish families was to take a risk and get on a coffin boat and flee to another country. North America was a safe haven for many Irish people. They dreamed of the life they would live in the U.S.A. Nearly 1 million people arrived in many cities which include New York, and Boston (Smith, 2011). When the Irish people arrived, it was a sad reality they did not think they would face. The conditions were despicable. Many families were moved into small rooms with no sanitation, ventilation, day light or electricity (Smith, 2011). The families were charged about $1.50 per week to live in extreme poverty (Smith, 2011). This led to unsanitary conditions for the communities. Diseases were able to thrive in those conditions and one of the more common disease was cholera . The Irish people usually stayed in close proximity to each other and would make a small Irish community. The Irish community strived to make money. They were only hired for unskilled jobs

Between the years of 1870-1882 there was a major push for land reform in Ireland. There have been

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

As one could tell from Michael’s inability to pay for secondary education, and the fact that he had to work on his farm to help feed his family from the age of nine, it is clear that Ireland was a poor country. Michael grew up in the time of America’s Great Depression, although he did not live in America at the time. Nonetheless, America’s depression had an international effect, affecting almost every country in the world, and Ireland was no exception. At the beginning of the Great Depression, the United States began to cut down on the number of immigrants they were letting into the country, because of their high unemployment rate. Once Ireland had less emigration, its unemployment rates began to rise as well, and therefore had a negative effect

In the early 1800’s, relations between Ireland and England were tense. The English were building their support by enforcing plantations, pieces of land that once belonged to indigenous Catholic Irish and putting the ownership to the incoming settlers from England and Scotland. Therefore, the impoverished Irish rented their land out from the wealthier owners who resided miles and miles away. In the 1800’s, the majority of Ireland was dependant on potatoes, as it was cheap and easy to grow for the enormous poor population that resided there. In 1845, toxic disease spread through all of Europe’s potatoes, greatly affecting the Irish, who were enormously dependent on the crop. Because the strong belief in the laissez-faire policy, which prevents

During this essay I will compare the difference of economic and policy development of Ireland, north or south in relation to the United Kingdom. As of today Ireland themselves are bit more advanced, exchange secondary economy. Ireland was among the starting gathering of 12 EU countries that started streaming the euro on 1 January 2002 “Although Ireland had aspirations to become a member of the Community as far back as 1961 it was not until 1972 when a referendum confirmed Ireland’s entry into the European Community with 83 per cent of voters supporting membership. Ireland formally acceded to the then EEC in 1973”. (Loughran, 2015).

During the early 1700's in Irish history; Catholics were not permitted to vote, marry a Protestant, join the armed forces, bare arms, or have an educated. They made up 70% of the population, but only owned 5% of the land. England had colonized Ireland and because they didn't like Catholics, they made the conditions really harsh for them. Although the English owned most of the land, they predominantly lived in England, so they would rent it out to another protestant who would then divide it between multiple Irish families. The rent would be raised with any land improvements so the tenants would often avoid making any. This then leads to poor food production rates and an overall poorer country. In the essay “ The Modest

Violence, terror, suffering and death. The conflict that has been burning in Northern Ireland seems to be an unstoppable battle and it has flooded over the land of Northern Ireland. The struggle for power and the persistence of greed have fueled the raging fires of the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been discussed continually over the past few decades. Ever since the beginning of the “Troubles,” organizations have been scavenging to find a plan that will cease the violence. Throughout my research for this project, the questions of what are the main sources of conflict in Northern Ireland and why have they continued today guided me to many fascinating pieces of evidence that

The turmoil of the second decade of the twentieth century gave way to a greater sense of peace and stability in the third, with a peace treaty signed between Ireland and Britain in December of 1921 and Home Rule finally established for most of the Irish isle (Ferriter, n.d.). At the same time, this new society did not lead to instant prosperity, and indeed poverty remained a major and growing problem in Ireland during this decade (Ferriter, n.d.). Economic and social problems that persisted during this decade certainly could have been pushes to increased immigration.

During this time it is clear that many changes were occurring in Ireland, a land that was once dominated by tradition was now becoming a modernized country. Where then does

Ireland 1845, food was suddenly scarce, money was hard to earn, and what little was earned was immediately spent for survival. The people of Ireland had grown up used to missing meals due to crop failure. However, previous crop failures couldn’t compare to the potato famine of 1845. For the next five years, the blight destroyed nearly all the potato crops and killed many Irish. About one million people died during this time in Ireland because of the starvation and disease. About two million fled the lands of Ireland in hopes of escaping the starvation, disease, death, and poverty that had taken over Ireland since the famine. The tenant farmers, who suffered would farm land that belonged to the absentee landlords. They would grow many crops, most of which were very successful. They were only allowed to keep the potato crops for their own; the rest of the crops would be harvested and exported to England. The absentee landlords lived like kings while the tenant farmers were forced to sell everything they owned so they could have money to purchase food to stay alive. When they ran out of things to sell they were then forced to scavenge for food scraps just to escape death for a while longer. The starvation and struggle of the Irish tenant farmers could have been avoided if the absentee landlords hadn’t been so greedy with collecting the rent. England could have come to the aid of the Irish people sooner than they did if they weren’t so interested in staying true to their