The men who put Ireland on the world map

Ireland was a very different place back in 1963. Agriculture was our biggest industry and the country was just beginning to open itself to inward investment. The economic boom experienced by the much of the rest of the world in the 1950s had largely passed us by. The Taoiseach of the day, Sean Lemass, had taken the bold step to reverse completely the previous economic policy based on protectionism and self-sufficiency and move towards rapid industrialisation fuelled by foreign direct investment.

The policy change was largely based on the seminal document produced by Department of Finance secretary general TK Whittaker in 1958. The First Programme for Economic Expansion proposed the radical new policy but it took real political courage on the part of Lemass to implement it.

It also took more than a policy statement. The economy had stagnated for decades and Ireland was seen as a mere backwater by the rest of the world - a market not really worthy of consideration. As US ambassador to Ireland, Scott McLeod, put it in 1961: “I believe it is fair to say that heretofore, American manufacturers have not been interested in Ireland as a market. Its relatively small population and the widely held view that the Irish have neither the taste nor the resource with which to purchase American production.”

It was clear that something quite dramatic was needed to put Ireland on the map. The drama was provided two years later by the visit of President John F Kennedy to Ireland - the first ever visit of a sitting US president to this country.

“The interaction between Kennedy and Lemass represented a real turning point in the Irish-US economic and social story”, says American Chamber of Commerce Ireland chief executive Mark Redmond. “The visit of President Kennedy was quite remarkable. It was four days which electrified the country and gave Irish people a new sense of pride in their place in the world. It coincided with tremendous period of change in the country. The Whittaker report saw the country throwing off the shackles of isolationism and protectionism. When Lemass travelled out to the US and met President Kennedy that October it represented an opening up to the world for this country. Lemass said that we were not seeking financial aid but were trying to build our economy by our own effort and with our own resources and we wanted US companies to come here. The visit of Kennedy put Ireland on the map for them.”

Lemass’s grandson Sean remembers the Kennedy visit well “It was a game-changer and we’re still talking about it today”, he recalls. “I was 12 at the time. It gave the country a great boost of confidence. The president of the greatest country in the world came and told us what a great country we were. It improved the way we thought about ourselves and opened door to international investment and trade.”

Today, over a half century later, Ireland and the US are inextricably linked through economic and people-to-people relationships. Mark Redmond believes this strong bond is the direct legacy of Sean Lemass and John F Kennedy and, in recognition of the historic visits made by the two men, the American Chamber of Commerce has established The Kennedy-Lemass Medal to honour US leaders of Irish heritage who have helped to strengthen the Irish-US relationship.

Redmond notes the profound and enduring economic and social impact of the relationship between the two leaders. “If Lemass had been able to look forward and say he had a vision that 50 years later nine of the world’s top 10 software firms, nine of the top 15 medtech firms, 15 of the top 25 financial services firms, and nine of the top ten pharma firms would be located in Ireland; that US firms in Ireland would be employing 140,000 people directly, and that Irish firms would be employing as many people in the US, people would have doubted his sanity”, he says.

"In his speech to the Oireachtas Kennedy paraphrased George Bernard Shaw and said 'Some men see things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that never were and ask why not?' That's what happened for Ireland in the 1960s. We wanted to grow our economy and opened ourselves up to the world to do so. The rewards are now to be see. We needed an extra spurt and the connection between Kennedy and Lemass helped give us that. The collective US investment in Ireland is now greater than it is in total for the BRICS countries combined and for Germany and France combined. GDP per capita in Ireland back in 1963 was just $850, it now stands at $56,000 and much of that growth and success is to the efforts of those two men."

Sean Lemass recalls his grandfather’s commitment to FDI. “The Lemass family were hatters and had a haberdashery shop Capel Street”, he points out. “When he became Minister for Industry & Commerce the first company my grandfather attracted to set up in the West of Ireland was a German hat manufacturer. The shop was probably importing hats from them already and he saw an opportunity to market Ireland to them as a manufacturing location which could offer cost advantages.”

Sean Lemass believes that his grandfather would be concerned by some recent global developments. "My grandfather is remembered is the opening up of the economy", he says. "It was a complete change from the protectionist De Valera era. The policy was to protect industries here like Bord na Mona and Irish Sugar and so on. Along with Whittaker he saw that was never going to be enough - we were too small just to produce for ourselves. We had to produce for other markets. We needed companies with markets elsewhere to come and produce here. It took political courage to make this change but he always said it was better to make a decision and get it wrong than not to make a decision at all. "

Lemass turned the policy of protectionism on its head, he adds. “It comes down to a basic understanding of how trade works. If Germany can make trucks cheaper than us and we can produce beef cheaper than them it makes sense for us to trade these things with each other. But the world seems to be changing again now. With Trump being elected to the presidency of the US and Britain heading for Brexit and people talking about trade barriers again we could see a return to protectionism. My grandfather wouldn’t have welcomed these changes.”

But he would have welcomed the changes in the changes in the Irish economy and the 700 US companies now located here. And the Lemass family certainly welcome the establishment of the award in the former Taoiseach’s honour. “It’s a tremendous recognition of his legacy”, says Lemass.