In the late 1950s, the Republic was in a state of economic crisis as the country suffered from high unemployment and soaring emigration. The ideals of De Valera’s Ireland had become stagnant and a new vision for Ireland’s future was needed.
In June 1959 Sean Lemass became Taoiseach and steered Ireland out of the despair of the 1950s, and into the modern age of the 1960s, a decade that saw the Republic experience economic development and great social change.
Broadcast to mark the 50th anniversary of Sean Lemass becoming Taoiseach, this documentary explores two main themes in Lemass’s life: his journey as an Irish nationalist; and his role in the transformation of Ireland’s economy from the 1930s through to the 1960s.
The programme features interviews with relatives of Lemass, including grandsons Sean Haughey and Sean Lemass Jnr., TK Whitaker, Garret Fitzgerald, Sir Ken Bloomfield, Bertie Ahern, and historians Tom Garvin (author of a forthcoming new biography, Judging Lemass), Michael Kennedy, Michael Foy, Niamh Purseil, and Fintan O’Toole.