Society and Culture in the 1980s


A Changing Population The austere budgets of the 1980s had an inevitable knock-on effect on society. Emigration increased significantly during the decade, as young, well-educated men and women sought work in the USA and Britain. What was notable about this new wave of emigration was that a large proportion of emigrants were from urban areas. The increase in industrialisation also meant that rural communities continued to decline, as those who did not emigrate moved to the larger towns and cities in search of work.


Despite emigration, Ireland’s population actually grew during the 1980s. This was largely due to the baby boom of the late 1970s, which peaked in 1980 at 74,000 births. In 1980 Ireland had a population of 3.4 million, over 1 million of whom were under the age of 14. By 1989 the population had reached 3.5 million. This was a considerable increase from a low of 2.8 million in 1961.


Population of the Republic of Ireland, 1971–1991:


1 million 2 million 3 million 4 million 5 million


Source: CSO Year: 1971 1979 1981 1986 1991


During the same period Ireland had moved from being a predominantly rural society to an urban one. Almost 55% of the population lived in towns and cities by 1990. Due to the economic recession of the 1980s, people delayed getting married; the marriage rate (the percentage of marriages per 1,000 of the population) declined from 7.4% in 1978 to just above 5% in 1989. There was an increase in the number of children born outside marriage. In 1949 the number of children born outside marriage was less than 3%. By 1989 it was almost 12%.


House ownership also increased during the 1980s. In 1971 there were just over 700,000 private homes in Ireland. By 1981 this had grown to 875,000 and by 1990 there were almost 1 million. The demand for housing pushed up house prices, which rose from an average of £19,000 in 1978 to £41,300 in 1988.


In 1985 the number of students enrolled in primary school reached 577,000. This was a significant increase from 1950, when 464,000 were enrolled. Due to the provision of free secondary education from 1967, the number of students enrolled at second level rose dramatically, from just over 100,000 in 1967 to almost 240,000 by 1983. The growth of second-level enrolment fed into third level; approximately 58,000 students attended a third-level institution by 1986.


The 1980s also saw an increase in crime. In 1983 there were over 102,000 indictable offences recorded; in 1949 there were just 12,000. In 1949 there were no recorded drug offences, but that had changed by the 1980s. In 1983 youth unemployment (under 25s) stood at almost 18%, many of whom lived in urban areas. In such conditions drug use became more prevalent. In 1979, 772 people sought treatment for heroin addiction in the National Drug Clinic; that number peaked at over 1,000 in 1983. Subsequently the number of drug offences began to decline as a result of law enforcement, education and treatment programmes.


GOVERNMENT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1949–1989 523


CHAPTER 11CHAPTER 9 TOPIC 6


2,978,248 3,368,217 3,443,405 3,540,643 3,525,719


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