One of the latest blows to Irish agriculture has been the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2020. This decision, known as Brexit, led to political, social, and economic change felt all across Europe and the rest of the world, changes that still have effects and consequences today.

The idea of Britain leaving the European Union has been floating around parliament since 2013 when Prime Minister David Cameron proposed the options of “remain” or “leave”. The side of “remain” held the majority until 2016, when a refugee crisis started to sway voters towards the “leave” side. A decision was made on February 1st, 2020, and was followed by a transition period that allowed for an orderly exit for the UK. That transition period ended on December 31st, 2020. The UK has since lost the rights and benefits it had as a European Union Member, meaning it is no longer a part of the European Union’s Single Market and Customs Union nor is it covered by the European Union’s international agreements. The decision to leave has affected trade and labor, ending the free movement of labor.

The break has affected many aspects of English and European agriculture. Now that the split has delayed the transportation of goods and the amount of available labor, resulting in blows to an already globally struggling industry. The UK pig sector, for example, had been hit particularly hard in the first months since the transition period ended. Difficulties exporting goods to the European continent and Northern Ireland led to major economic loss due to the loss of products during waiting periods. Due to the split, feed, and straw prices were skyrocketing, furthering the loss of income to these farms. Grain importation went a little smoother initially, but potential issues arose with exporting processed products. Another issue, as previously mentioned, was labor. With the free movement of labor ended the food and farming sectors were facing a serious challenge in sourcing labor. This led to overworked people being severely underpaid.

This led to a blow to agriculture all over the EU, including Ireland. Brexit has made frictionless trade between the European Union and the UK impossible due to the UK’s withdrawal from the Single Market system. While much has been done to minimize the impact of Brexit on Irish businesses and citizens through the Protocol, especially the relationship between Ireland and Northern Ireland, some consequences can’t be avoided. European Union consumer protection legislation may no longer apply when buying products from the UK. Instead, consumer rights are set down in UK law. Businesses importing or exporting goods to the UK now need to register for Customs. However, people born in Northern Ireland who retain their right to be Irish citizens will also retain their European Union citizenship so they still have the right to live, work and study in a European Union country without a visa or a time limit. There are no passport controls in operation for Irish and UK citizens traveling into either country. Goods moving between Ireland and Northern Ireland will not have any customs, tariffs, or other restrictions placed on them, and goods moving from Northern Ireland to another part of the UK and vice versa now require additional paperwork and checks.

Sources:

European Commission. “The Impact of Brexit on Ireland.” Ireland.representation.ec.europa.eu, ireland.representation.ec.europa.eu/strategy-and-priorities/key-eu-policies-ireland/impact-brexit-ireland_en.
Farmers Guide. “Brexit Deal: How Are Farmers Affected?” Farmers Guide, 27 Jan. 2021, www.farmersguide.co.uk/brexit-deal-how-are-farmers-affected/.
Mueller, Benjamin, and Peter Robins. “What Is Brexit? And What Happens Next?” The New York Times, 12 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/article/brexit-uk-eu-explained.html.

 

Shortly after Ireland achieved annexation from England, it entered a period of significant economic growth and prosperity. Dubbed the “Celtic Tiger”, this period of wealth lasted from 1995 to about 2007 and was the result of foreign investments, primarily within the United States and the European Union. The Irish economy grew at an annual rate of 9.4% between 1995 to 2000, and between 1987 and 2007, Ireland’s gross domestic product grew by 229%. The name “Celtic Tiger”, coined by Kevin Gardiner in 1994, is a reference to the Four Asian Tigers, a nickname for four Asian nations, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, that had had economic booms as well, theirs taking place in the 1950s and 1960s. This was a way to solidify the financial success of Ireland as legitimate on a global scale, especially since Ireland was previously one of Europe’s poorest countries for over 200 years before. 

While many experts cannot pick one thing that provided a reason for this economic boom, there are many more minor causes that built upon each other to give rise to the Celtic Tiger. These causes include low corporate taxes and wages, foreign investment, a more stable national economy, adequate budget policies, European Union membership and subsidies, and investment in American companies, leading to Ireland collecting ‘runoff’ from the U.S. economic boom. The Irish Development Authority, or IDA, used its status as an EU member to convince many American tech companies, including Dell, Intel, and Gateway, to move some of their operations to Ireland. To this day, the U.S. and Ireland remain close trade partners and many American companies base their operations in Ireland. 

This incredible boom in the Irish economy also had an effect on Irish agriculture. Following World War Two, many Irish agricultural jobs were on the decline, especially in the farming and production sectors. In addition, the subsequent growth of agricultural output was slower than that in the industrial and service sectors. However, with the republic’s entrance into the European Economic Community in 1973, things began to look up for Irish agricultural exports, and with the start of the Celtic Tiger in the 1990s, farm incomes began to rise again after a two-decade decline. With the beginning of renewed trade within the European Union, Irish crop export and import began to rise, and the agricultural sectors were back on track.

 Economists are still studying how much each of these factors contributed to Ireland’s exceptional economic performance. The Celtic Tiger provided an abundance of well paying jobs, decreased emigration, and solidified Ireland as one of the European Union’s top national economies. 

 

Works Cited

Chen, James. “Celtic Tiger Definition.” Investopedia, 13 Oct. 2021, www.investopedia.com/terms/c/celtictiger.asp.

“Ireland – Independent Ireland to 1959.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/place/Ireland/Independent-Ireland-to-1959.

“Irish Agriculture Has Changed beyond Recognition since 1970s.” The Irish Times, www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2023/01/27/irish-agriculture-has-changed-beyond-recognition-since-1970s/.

“Social Effects of the Celtic Tiger.” The Irish Times, www.irishtimes.com/opinion/social-effects-of-the-celtic-tiger-1.1212643#:~:text=The%20effects%20of%20the%20Celtic%20Tiger%20have%20transformed. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.

 

The Irish Potato Famine, also known as The Great Famine, was a tragedy that shook the Irish population to its core. Ireland lost twenty percent of its population, from both death and emigration, and the loss of population was felt throughout the nation. It took decades for Ireland to bounce back from this disaster, but it wasn’t done without the intense help and support of many foreign nations. When Ireland was able to return to its former glory, it experienced a period of environmental rejuvenation that lead to an agricultural boom. This in turn led to social and economic changes still felt today. 

After the devastating events of the Great Famine, many nations donated what they could to help the ailing nation. One of these was the Choctaw Tribe, a tribe of Indigenous American peoples native to Oklahoma. Even though the Choctaw Tribe was suffering the brutal forced migration known as The Trail of Tears”, they saw the plight of the Irish people. In 1847, the tribe took up a donation of a modern equivalent of over $5,000 in today’s money and sent it to the town of Midleton, a small town south of Dublin in County Cork. This sparked a friendship between the two nations that has lasted to this day. In 2017, a monument entitled “Kindred Spirits” was dedicated in a Midleton park, commemorating the Choctaw tribe and the gift they gave. In addition to the Choctaw, American Irish immigrants founded the Boston Repeal Association in Massachusetts. The Repeal Association was the first foreign campaign to be established for aid and relief to Ireland and raised almost $430,000 in relief and supplies. Pennsylvania was the second most crucial state in raising aid for Ireland, in addition to being the second-largest shipping port to allow the resources to be shipped overseas.

 

This aid helped to kickstart an era of environmental, economic, and social rejuvenation. What brought about this era of hope was the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. After the Famine left most of the rural areas of Ireland abandoned, the IAOS attempted to construct a new economy in the countryside. This “co-op’s” emergence radically transformed rural society in Ireland at the end of the 19th century. The at the time controversial idea behind the IAOS movement was that the farmers should have direct ownership of their businesses and the means of those businesses’ production. The co-op structure placed ownership of these businesses directly in the hands of the farmers and laborers who joined the Society as members. Each individual was then given an equal say in the decision-making processes of that business regardless of the member’s wealth or status. This helped relaunch the economy while revitalizing the environment and layed the groundwork to level out the socital playing field within rural Ireland. Another time of great economic prosperity for Ireland came almost a century later in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was called the “Golden Tiger” of Ireland, and it changed the economical and global standing of Ireland for decades to come.

 

Sources:

“Choctaw and Irish History.” Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, www.choctawnation.com/about/history/irish-connection/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.

Doyle, Patrick. “Ireland’s Co-Operative Revolution: ‘Building a Rural Civilisation.’” The Irish Times, 29 Jan. 2019, www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/ireland-s-co-operative-revolution-building-a-rural-civilisation-1.3773382.

“Ireland – the Debt Crisis and Beyond.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/place/Ireland/The-debt-crisis-and-beyond.

Poleon, Jade. “Top 5 Countries That HELPED Ireland during the Famine, RANKED.” Ireland before You Die, 11 Apr. 2022, www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/top-5-countries-that-helped-ireland-during-the-famine/.