Buy Irish Goods – 1950 Sunday Independent

This advert from the 26 March 1950 Sunday Independent provides insight into Irish economics of the post-Emergency period. Economics in Ireland in the two decades before this ad could be boiled down to two factors; protectionist trade policies and the Emergency. In an attempt to create a more independent economy, import-substituting industrialization (ISI) policies, such as high tariffs on imported goods, were put into place in the 1930s. However, before work could be done to create the infrastructure to successfully enact protectionist trade policies, the second World War broke out.

Though Ireland remained neutral during the second World War, the Emergency Powers Act of 1939 brought in a period of intense rationing which changed Irish life. Rations, on items including foodstuffs like tea and flour as well the use of petrol, became the norm for everyday Irish people. Due to these intense rations, Irish people saved money, unable to consume at the rate they had before. This meant that after the Emergency ended in 1946, there was a very brief period of consumer-led economic growth.

However, this boom was short-lived as by 1948, savings were spent mainly on imported goods and Ireland faced bleak economic perspectives. While most of Europe entered a period of global trade and economic growth in the 1950s, Ireland focused again on the protectionist trade policies of the pre-war time. Building Irish industry became the main goal of the Department of Industry and Commerce. This advertisement illustrates the import the Department of Industry and Commerce put in the public buying Irish goods. The consumer is helping bring about a “sound national economy” and the “prosperity of the nation” dependent on buying domestically. ISI policies had seemingly gotten Ireland through the global depression in the 1930s as well as the Emergency, so the continuation of these policies was seen as the reasonable thing to do.

However, by the mid-1950s, ISI had proved to be unsuccessful as investment in sustainable Irish industrialization was not made. While the policies of self-sufficiency may have allowed Irish manufacturing to grow in the 1930s, by the post-Emergency era these policies were becoming out of step with the Irish economy and the broader globalisation of trade at the time. Factories were too small to actually sustain the Irish economy. The agricultural industry relied heavily on exporting goods to markets outside of Ireland, but a lack of investment to keep agriculture competitive with outside markets meant that it had become inefficient. The 1950s saw high levels of unemployment and many young Irish citizens emigrated in search of better opportunities.

By Mazie Smallidge, researched and written for #OpentheArchive, June 2025.