Turning the tide
While the British “never had it so good” and the Germans experienced an “economic miracle,” Ireland remained an exception in western Europe in the 1950s. The people of Bonn, Bologna, Birmingham and Bordeaux enjoyed an improved lifestyle in the years following the most destructive war in history, and people in the Irish Republic looked on from the outside. The establishment of the European Economic Community, in 1957, provided a framework for a new rural and urban prosperity. Ireland had to wait until 1972 to join, not having taken the opportunity to do so at its creation.
That was the more surprising because Ireland had escaped the jackboot and occupation during World War Two; neutral Ireland emerged unscathed, with its industries and infrastructure in tact, such as they were. But instead of catching the crest of the new wave of prosperity, Ireland languished, for most of the decade, in mediocrity and chronic economic under-performance.
