The Old Connection Sundered? Ireland and the UK since 1916

Determined to be free from the oppressive control of an alien power, each nationalist thinker on the eve of the Easter Rising sought a new approach to economic structures and policies. But their visions differed. But the course followed by the Irish economy reflected neither the national self-reliance advocated by Griffith nor the socialism of Connolly. Instead, it was the liberal internationalism of the less-heralded Tom Kettle that best characterized Ireland s eventually successful navigation of the global economy. Over the past half century growth rates have been on average high, but volatile, reflecting the opportunities and challenges of globalization; of embracing the continental rather than the insular. In opening to the global economy, Ireland did not turn its back on Britain. Strong economic influences remained. For example, the partial insulation of living standards in Ireland from market inequalities seems to reflect (albeit imperfectly) the degree and the ways in which Britain has addressed these issues over the past century. The old connection was not altogether sundered.