People & Histories
1973–2018

Celtic Tiger, crash and a changed society

EU membership, a boom, a crash and the collapse of Church authority turn Ireland into one of Europe's most liberal societies, sealed by the 2015 and 2018 referendums.

  • The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000 — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2004)
  • The Irish Banking Crisis: Regulatory and Financial Stability Policy 2003–2008 — Patrick Honohan, Central Bank of Ireland (2010)
  • Referendum Results 1937–2019 — Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Government of Ireland
  • Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Report) — Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Government of Ireland (2009)

Well established social changeeuropereligionemigration

Ireland joined the European Economic Community with the UK in 1973. EU funds, free education (introduced from 1967), a young workforce and a low corporate tax rate that drew American tech and pharmaceutical firms fuelled a boom from the mid-1990s, the “Celtic Tiger”. By the late 1990s Ireland, so long a land of emigrants, had become a country of net immigration.

  • The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000 — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2004)
  • Ireland: History — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
The later boom was driven by a property bubble and reckless lending. In September 2008 the government guaranteed the banks’ liabilities, and in November 2010 Ireland needed an EU/IMF bailout of €85 billion, followed by years of austerity and renewed emigration.
  • The Irish Banking Crisis: Regulatory and Financial Stability Policy 2003–2008 — Patrick Honohan, Central Bank of Ireland (2010)
  • Ireland: History — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica

Meanwhile the Church’s authority collapsed under revelations of clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up, and of cruelty in industrial schools, Magdalen laundries and mother-and-baby homes.

  • Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Report) — Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Government of Ireland (2009)
  • Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries — Inter-Departmental Committee chaired by Martin McAleese, Government of Ireland (2013)
  • Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes — Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Government of Ireland (2021)
  • Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2009)
Society liberalised in step: homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993 and divorce narrowly approved in 1995. On 22 May 2015 Ireland became the first country to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote, with 62% voting yes. On 25 May 2018, 66% voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which had banned abortion since 1983.
  • Referendum Results 1937–2019 — Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Government of Ireland
  • Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2009)

How it's seen
Most Irish voters

A long-overdue escape from a narrow, Church-dominated past toward a fairer, more open Ireland.

  • Referendum Results 1937–2019 — Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Government of Ireland
  • Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2009)

Religious and social conservatives

A minority, about a third in 2015 and 2018, see a loss of the country's moral and Christian foundations, and especially oppose the abortion law.

  • Referendum Results 1937–2019 — Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Government of Ireland
  • The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000 — Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books (2004)

Why it matters today

Ireland

Older and younger Irish people can feel they grew up in different countries. The referendums on marriage and abortion are remembered as moments when the country redefined itself, and the 2008 crash and its austerity still shape attitudes to banks, housing and the EU.