Abstract
The Irish Free State also wanted to show its modernity to the world. It thus built a huge power plant, the Shannon Scheme, for the electrification of the Free State. It was a symbol of great modernity and an achievement for the Free State, but it nonetheless cost 5M pounds.What is more, the government was willing to lead the land policy at the expense of other areas. Therefore, 10 more land acts were enacted between the Land Act of 1923 and 1933. Are those factors sufficient to explain the following difficulties?
The top problems were infant mortality and bad housing. 25% of the Dublin population occupied 22000 rooms; 13000 were occupied by more than 3 people at the end of the war. On the 27 March 1923, the Adrigole case caused a great emotion in Ireland. It was a medical report describing the terrible conditions of living of a family dying because of hunger and diseases. Nevertheless, we can retrospectively argue that this family was not poorer than the others. Bad harvest in the 1920's led to a widespread hunger, almost to a famine. Absolute poverty persisted long after Adrigole.
