Seán Lemass (1899-1971)

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Works
The Role of the State Sponsored Bodies, with comments by C. S. Andrews & J. P. Beddy (Dublin: IPA 1959), 28pp.

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George D. Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland (London: Routledge 1982; 1991 Edn.), espec. Chap. 11, ‘State and Nation in Modern Ireland’: ‘[De Valera’s] Government still included many of the old guard: Dr James Ryan, Sean MacEntee, Frank Aiken, and of course Lemass himself. But not only were there new men as well, Jack Lynch, Neil Blaney, Charles Haughey, Donough O'Malley, Kevin Boland and Dr Patrick Hillary: one member at least of the older generation, Lemass showed that not all old republicans lived for the past. Lemass showed the importance of political control of the machinery of administration; for he gave life and vigour to the economic proposals contained in a report prepared by Dr T.K. Whitaker, the secretary of the department of fnance, which drew attention to the failures of 25 years of self-governrnent: the backwardness of agriculture, the stagnation of industry, the decline in population, emigration, the lack of public capital and the lack of intelligent direction of public capital. The remedy he suggested was for the State to spend money on modernising agriculture and industry, to solicit for foreign capital by tax concessions and other facilities, and to abandon the old Sinn Féin policy of protection for its own sake. Ireland would before long find herself participating in some way in the European economic community, and “it must now be recognised that protection can no longer be relied upon as an automatic weapon of defence”. The initial cost of the new plan was high: but taking a risk was a necessary part of economic expansion. Lemass took up the Whitaker report, and used his power and skills to hurry along the civil servants, dispel gloom and defeatism, and convince workers and employers of the need for planning. He was helped by the general economic climate of the 1960s; and the return in 1965 of the problem of an adverse balance of payments, together with inflation and disappointing agricultural performance showed that the 'economic miracle' was by no means accomplished- for all time. [… &c.] (p.356 et seq.)

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John Waters, review of Michael O’Sullivan, Seán Lemass: A Biography (Blackwater Press 1994), in The Irish Times, 17 Dec. 1995; finds that it gives only occasional flashes of Lemass’s personality, as did Farrell’s biography; quotes Lemass’s excuse to another biographer, ‘I think that my life, if you mean my educational attainments and personal experiences, is of minor interest and has little bearing on public events during the past 30 or 40 years’; Waters considers it not the book we have been waiting for.

Conor McCarthy, Modernisation: Crisis and Culture in Ireland 1969-1992 (Dublin: Four Courts Press 2000): ‘If, as Terence Brown suggests, Lemass’ chief ideological success lay in dissociating modernisation and Anglicisation [...]’ (p.50, quoting Terence Brown, Social History of Ireland, 1985, pp.246-47). Note comments, passim, on the nature of Irish modernisation in the era of Whitaker and Lemass. Further, Lemass provided IDA grant and a State Development Bank loan to Ardmore Studio, May 1958 (Ibid., p.166ff). Note, however, that this is seen in the context of the progressive imbrication of Irish cinema in the state project of statist representation, substituting a nationalist agenda for an independent intellectual and aesthetic project.

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Quotations
Arthur Griffith (1928): ‘We believe that Ireland can be made a self-contained unit, providing all the necessities of living in adequate quantities for people residing in the island at the moment, and probably for a much larger number.’

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At his resignation: ‘The celebration of the firieth annivesary of the 1916 Rising reminds me that I have been on active national service during all these years, almost 30 of them being spent in Government, and over seven as Taoiseach. If the next general election takes place in 1970, when it is due, I shall then be over 71 years old. My resignation before this date would be inevitable and I believe that my successor, who will lead the Fianna Fail Party then, should have ample time in which to prove his worth and acquire the experienc which will enable him to achieve another victory for the party. / Politic life, notwithstanding all the strains and frustrations it iinvolves, is one of the most satisfying activities to which any man could commit himself - or any woman either. I regret that time would not stand still for me so that I could go on indefinitely. I believe, however, that it is right that the representatives of the newer generation should now take over. There are today, working in every field of activity, and especially in the Government, younger men who ar efar better equipped than their predecessors, by training and experience, to leada the nation thorgh the challenging years ahead. This is not to disparage their predecessors, but to emphasise their own high qualities. / I have given the date of my retirement very careful thought, and decided that it shold be now. The 1916 celebrations [in 1966] marked the ending of a chapter of our history and a new chapter had now to begin. / As one of the generation, this marked the end of the road for me. The economic difficulties of the last few months show signs of easing and a new derivve for national exonomic expansion is getting under way. There is need now to preapre a revised Programme of Economic Development, for the next five years or so, based on current realities, and its preparation should, I am convinced, be undertaken by a Government that can expect to have continuing responsibility for its fulfilment. / I will remain a member of Dail Eireann, at least during the lifetime of the present Dail.’ Further, on any intention of writing memoirs: ‘I have no built-in literary gifts, and in any case writing is hard work. My life in poliitics was generally conducted in the open, and except for gossip, is fairly well known.’ Counted President Kennedy the highest world leader in his estimation; was much impressed with Charles de Gaulle and found Mr [Harold] Wilson ‘a very agreeable personality’ and not at all the ‘hard-bitten Orangeman he had expected’. Called the failure of Ireland to gain entry to the Common Market ‘a major disappointment’ and called his visit to Belfast to Captain O’Neill ‘one of the events of my time end of the road for me as one of the generation.’ Humorously admits to seeing himself as ‘a historical relic’. (See The I rish Times, 9 Nov. 1966, p.1-6; rep. in The Irish Times, Weekend Review (17 Oct. 2009, p.14.) Note:

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Notes
Partisan?: In 1935 Lemass was accused of favouring members of the Fianna Fáil party in allocation of mining leases, and defended in the Dáil by de Valera: ‘Here were charges of improper action, partisan action, corrupt action in a sense - although corruption, of course, properly means using one’s political office, one’s public office, for personal gain. It was not personal gail the minister is accused of, but partisanship and giving gain to his friends.’ (Irish Times, 23 Feb,. 2008; in context of debate over the use of FF party funds for the private housing requirements of Celia Larkin.)

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