OFF THE LAND
IN the articles on the Republic of Ireland in this issue there is one surprising omission: agriculture. Ireland is basically a farming coun- try, endowed by nature with a fertile soil and a beneficent, if damp, climate; and any con- sideration of Ireland today could reasonably be expected to deal with the land. But a survey of this nature naturally tends to deal with new de- velopments, plans, projects, ideas—such as, for example, the scheme for developing the Shannon estuary into what may still become one of the most important of European ports. In Irish agri- culture, there is nothing new; nor has there been for years; nor is there likely to be in the fore- seeable future.
In Ireland, farming is a way of life: not a business occupation. There are, of course, some farms run on commercial lines; many of them in the Pale, and a few scattered around the rest of the country. But the great majority of farmers live as peasant proprietors, with little ambition to become rural tycoons. They do quite well for themselves--surprisingly, the Irish can boast that they feed themselves better than the residents of any other country in the world, at least in terms of calorie intake. They do not, however, have a standard of living comparable with their competitors; the Dutch, say, or the Danes. And they do not provide that surplus on which a national exchequer must rely to provide welfare and education and other ser- vices. The result is rural stagnation at home and a steady stream of emigrants to. Britain which has at times come close to 50,000 a year.
This is unfortunate, for in other respects the prospects in the Republic are brighter than they have been for a long time. There is a much wider recognition now that the problem of Par- tition,. though it still rankles, can only be solved byline and good will: not by force, or guile. A determination has been shown to put Irish inlykry on a sounder footing, in view of the implications of the Six and the Seven. In the
United Nations, as Erskine Childers shows in his article, the Irish delegation have recently been playing a remarkable 'part. And the tourist authorities are trying to attract a trade that other countries are increasingly inclined to neglect—. the holidaymaker who wants peace and quiet: not casinos or holiday camps.
There have been setbacks, notably the recent popular press stunt stories about the horse trade to France. The trade may be wretchedly callous and unnecessary, but the real culprits are, and have always been, the French—as any reporter who has been assigned to cover the story will attest. For a travel agency, say, to reject Irish business while continuing its much more lucra- tive trade with France is symptomatic of exactly the kind of hypocrisy with which the Irish have long associated perfidious Albion.
There are difficulties, too, in the way of ex- panding Irish industry with the help of foreign capital--when that capital happens not to be British. All the omens point—as Patrick Lynch argues—to a new economic settlement with Britain in the not-too-distant future, based not on political domination but on simple conveni- ence. But everything the Irish do to try to make their industry more competitive with foreign aid makes .it that little bit more difficult to secure a settlement with Britain that would benefit both islands without arousing furious resent- ments among business interests.
Still, at least the present Irish Government cannot be accused, as some of its predecessors could be, of shutting its eyes to the problem. In some respects—notably in the way it has been tackling its transport crisis—it is ahead of the Government here; as Mr. Marples, who has many of the same difficulties to face, would probably admit. But the essential--agri- cultural—problem remains; and until an Irish Government finds a way to awake the farmers to the dangers of their present apathy, the Re- public's future cannot be considered secure..
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