MIGRATION AND THE IRISH LABOUR MARKET. ESRI Working Paper No. 113, July 1999

Fitz Gerald, John and Kearney, Ide (1999) MIGRATION AND THE IRISH LABOUR MARKET. ESRI Working Paper No. 113, July 1999. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

When Ireland became independent in 1922 it still remained part of a common British Isles labour market with no restriction on movement between the two jurisdictions. With the exception of the years of the Second World War, this was to remain the case (for Irish citizens) right up to the present. By contrast, from the end of the 1920s tariffs were introduced in Ireland (and the UK) so that by the mid 1930s the goods market was subject to very considerable restrictions. The exceptionally high tariff barriers remained in place until the end of the 1950s, unlike the situation in most other European countries where trade barriers were rapidly reduced in the immediate post-war years. This combination of an open labour market and a closed goods market over a sustained period was most unusual in Europe.

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