The First Programme for Economic Expansion, 1958–1963 Fianna Fáil’s Response to the Economic Situation
When Fianna Fáil returned to power in 1957, many of its ministers were the same as previously, but the party had re-evaluated its economic policies. The 1957 Fianna Fáil cabinet included: Taoiseach
Éamon de Valera
Tánaiste and Minister for Industry and Commerce Seán Lemass Minister for Finance
Minister for External Affairs and Minister for Agriculture
James Ryan Frank Aiken
Minister for Education and Minister for Gaeltacht Jack Lynch Minister for Health
Seán MacEntee
Dole queues were a fact of life as unemployment was rife.
De Valera, who was now 75 years of age, allowed the Tánaiste, Seán Lemass, greater influence in government. Lemass, who was also Minister for Industry and Commerce, agreed with T.K. Whitaker, Secretary of the Depart- ment of Finance, that a new approach to the economic situation was needed. He was supported by the Minister for Finance, James Ryan. Ryan agreed with the call for a new economic policy that Lemass had already put forward during the lifetime of the second inter-party govern- ment. This new plan would become known as the First Programme for Economic Expansion.
Ireland needed industry, like this steel-plate factory, to build the economy. GOVERNMENT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1949–1989 403
