User:Eolais/Lemass era

The Lemass era is a term given to the collective years of 1959 to 1966 when the Republic of Ireland was under the leadership of Taoiseach Sean Lemass. A long time member of Éamon de Valera's governments and a founding father of Fianna Fáil, Lemass' strategy as Taoiseach varied greatly from his predecessors protectionist economic policies. Lemass was often seen as more liberal in nature compared to other members of Fianna Fail and his view on how Ireland should develop was not similar to that of de Valera's. Lemass believed that Ireland should be an industrialized and wealthy nation that is part of the European Economic Community, unlike de Valera's view that Ireland should be an agrarian society based on domestic industry.