The economic problems in Ireland were the same after the Great Famine as before In light of this comment, evaluate and assess the Irish economic situation prior to and after the Famine.

by sundayinnit (student)

“The economic problems in Ireland were the same after the Great Famine as before” [60] (1798-1882)

The coming of the Great Famine irrevocably changed the majority of the aspects of the Irish economy. ‘Economics’ is however a broad term for developments in society encompassing political relations, finance and society as a whole, and it is important to distinguish and properly evaluate these differing transformations. Certain features of the Irish economy found themselves to improve after the Famine, and some deteriorated; change had certainly been predominant. Though one aspect of the Irish economy, that to some was the most fundamental component, and essentially determiner, of Irish economics and arguably an underlying ‘evil’ that all Ireland’s economic hardships swivelled around, failed to change. The continuation of the dominant landlord-tenant relationship in Ireland meant that, although the majority of economic issues in Ireland changed in some way, the major, inherent problem of the Irish economy remained.

Many features of Irish politics and society can be evaluated in order to properly judge any change, or continuation, in economic problems. As alluded to in the introduction, the Irish land system played a big part in determining, and feeling the effects of, the economy. Land tenure- the manner in which individuals in Ireland owned land- played a key part: prior to the famine the bulk of cultivated land had been owned by Protestant landlords who frequently sub-divided their land. The predominance of small land in Ireland was one of the main causes of underemployment during the famine. The coming of the Great Famine did little to change this problem, though that is not to say that the problems were the same. Post-famine, the cottier class of smallholders was almost completely eradicated out a result of death or emigration, which led to the disappearance of many smallholdings- where in 1845 one-third of the farms were over 15 acres in size, in 1851 about one half were. It can arguably be said that the Famine helped stimulate land trade, as it ignited the “Encumbered Estates Act” whereby the speed of land was sped up and as many as 3000 estates were sold in the 1850’s. However, in reality this did nothing to help Irish economic problems, as these “new” landlords turned out only to be either spectators, rank-renters, or the old landlord class who continued to dominate Irish land tenure, causing the deep set economic problems of the Irish land structure to continue.

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Discussion about land-tenure is largely linked to the relationship between the tenant and landlord, an integral cause of economic problems in Ireland. To summate simply, prior to the Famine the landlord had unfairly dominated the tenant, and post-Famine this situation did not change. Though perhaps this is a summary too simple- for despite the continuation of the bad treatment of tenants, there had been changes in their relationship with the landlord, however small or insignificant they were (at least in the eyes of the Irish!). The Irish Land Acts of 1870 and 1881 brought about several changes: tenants were required to be evicted on a ‘just’ cause, compensation was made mandatory, and made it easier for a tenant to sell and buy land. This did help change the economy: trade was stimulated and over the years a 20% reduction in rent would be achieved. It is however key to put these changes into context- although the tenants had been put in a stronger position in their relationship with the landlords; it served as no real cure for the economic ills of Ireland. It did not impact at all on Irish economic growth due to the fact that, the source of the problem hadn’t been the tenant-landlord relationship, but the shortage of cultivable land. Perhaps what best epitomises the lack of significant change and continuation of the domination of the landlord post-Famine is the fact that in 1879 1000 families were turned off their land. It is, after all, unlikely that the clamour of the tenant right movement, and then the land league would have arisen had the landlord-tenant relationship changed in any way.

The twenty percentage reduction in the rents of tenants had undeniably been beneficiary, and this is not the only piece of evidence in Irish socio-economic developments. Living standards, in comparison to before the famine, altered for the better. The wage of Labourer’s rose due to the drop in population, housing standards had improved and Ireland as a country became more urbanised. Incredibly, the incomes of farmers also rose by approximately 77%. These were all signs of relative economic prosperity in Ireland in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. This had in part been due to the patterns of emigration in Ireland:- before the Famine, eight million people lived in Ireland, though afterwards this figure was reduced to roughly six and a half million by 1850. The decrease allowed for positive changes in the Irish economy due to a large decrease in the competition for land, meaning that the frequent land sub-division was no longer necessary. Further evidence of industrial and social improvements lies in Belfast, where there had been specialised development in the linen industry, the relative economic flourish causing the stand of life to increase and the population to increase threefold. The developments in the microeconomic section of Irish society owed largely to the changes in the method of farming that the Famine brought about. The economic-workability and spread of the potato had made it the ‘indisputable’ crop to be harvested prior to the Famine, but the aftermath of the Famine saw more emphasis on pastoral farming- by 1870 the acreage devoted to grain and potatoes had halved compared to pre-Famine days. Therefore it can be argued that, although some inherent economic problems regarding the structure of the Irish land system remained, general economic situations throughout the country had actually improved in what was this relative prosperity of the post-Famine period.

All points taken into account, it is undeniable that the Irish economy had changed in some degree after the Great Famine (some aspects for better and some for worse), the real question is to what extent this change was significant. The individual fortune of Irish farmers, and Ireland on the whole, did increase owing to the fall in population- the incomes of farmers increased and industrial development in Ireland allowed for improvements in education and trade. However there are certain restraints to these ‘changes’- for instance, agriculture continued to preside over industry, and a serious shortage of cultivable land remained. However the fundamental cause of economic problems in Ireland- land tenure and the relationship between landlords and tenants- failed to see any real transformation. This can best be epitomised by the occurrence of the agricultural depression of the 1870’s, and exploring its causes. It is perhaps the report of the Royal Devon Commission that best summates the Irish situation in the nineteenth century- “the source of all Ireland’s misfortunes and poverty was the fatal system of land tenure existing in the country”. Ireland’s failure to prevent the continuation of the landlords’ dominance over the tenants meant that the inherent component of Irish economic problems, or crucially causer of these Irish misfortunes, would remain.

Thomas Smith