Sir, - I was born during the formative years of the Irish Free State, married happily during the maligned 1950s (when a woman could walk home alone after midnight from a Dublin city dance without fear of being molested) and am part of the generation which shaped the Ireland of the last century. A new generation have now arisen, among whom is, presumably, Robert Vance (September 14th), who like to claim they have at long last brought the age of enlightenment upon us, and that most of our past ills, including emigration, were due to romantic nationalism without a coherent social or economic policy.
I take issue with the assertion that when the Sasanaigh departed in 1922, they left behind a good economy, "far ahead of many countries of similar size in terms of both domestic output and machinery engaged in agriculture", as well as a civil service, an infrastructure and a free holding farming sector. Few would disagree that the British left their former colonies in less of a mess than other imperial powers, but that is not saying much. I recall tramping the fields and farms in my youth, when they were generally small, poorly drained and fertilised and machinery amounted to little more than a horse-drawn plough and a contraption for shredding mangolds and turnips.
Worse, our farmers were uneducated and often illiterate, burdened with debt and annuities. Even when they could borrow or raise capital, there was a very limited market for their produce, dictated by Britain. We were left with no fishing industry or shipping fleet (although Dev created one during the second World War and it was afterwards liquidated by his detractors). The infrastructure was a complete shambles after a World War, an Anglo-Irish War and Civil War. As for industry, unless you were a Protestant with a relative in Guinness's Brewery, emigration would likely be your only option.
The tide of emigration was not stemmed until the 1960s, when we had consolidated political independence and achieved economic independence with the advent of membership of the Common market and a lessening of dependence on Britain, coupled with an inflow of capital, and a great improvement in our educational system. Was Donough O Malley a "romantic nationalist"? It cannot be forgotten that the much maligned policy of self-sufficiency nurtured home industry and the semi-State sector in the early stages of our development, and stood us in good stead during the second World War and its aftermath.
Now that the well-educated emigrants of the 1980s are returning home to a land of full and plenty, saturated with Anglo-American "Big Brother" culture, and a match for other countries in the drugs and violence stakes, the self-righteous critics who are part of our new generation might consider giving some credit to their parents' generation, who made sacrifices to educate them and lay the foundation for the present economic prosperity. The least they should do is to curb their perverse inclination to label their parents as romantic nationalist morons. Mhuscail do mhisneach, a Bhanba. - Is mise,
Art O Laoghaire, Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3.