Beyond economics: redefining development

Since the short-lived interlude of impressive growth and prosperity in the 1970s, the dual scourges of involuntary emigration and high unemployment have returned to plague Irish society. Having increasingly become part of the global economy, Ireland has been buffeted by some of the worst effects of international recession. Problems at home, such as the high level of national debt, have also contributed to the difficulties of making economic progress in recent years. Our experience to date in the European Community has been very uneven, and the performance of our agricultural sector under the Common Agricultural Policy has been quite disappointing.