Social Change in 20th Century Ireland

Question 1

What did housing in rural areas used to be like?

Answer 1

○In 1900 over 60% of the population lived in the countryside
○Lived in difficult conditions with no running water
○Thatched roofs with small window and no electricity
○Used candles and oil lamps for light

Question 2

How has housing in rural areas changed?

Answer 2

○ESB was established in 1927
○By 1960s electricity was brought to rural areas all over Ireland
○Many stone cottages replaced by modern bungalows

Question 3

What did farming used to be like?

Answer 3

○Most was tillage farming and required a lot of manual work

○Horse drawn machinery

Question 4

How has farming changed?

Answer 4

○By 1950s and 1960s motorised tractors replaced horses
○Combine harvesters
○Many farmers moved from tillage to livestock
○Farming became more profitable after Ireland joined the EEC
○Common Agricultural Policy

Question 5

What did housing in urban areas used to be like?

Answer 5

○Rich lived in outskirts
○Less wealthy rented houses in city
○Many tradesmen lived in houses called two up two down
○Poor lived in tenements
○Living conditions of poor were awful
○118,000 people lived in 5,000 tenement houses

Question 6

During the 1900s, what % of the population lived in towns?

Answer 6

32%

Question 7

How has housing in urban areas changed?

Answer 7

○Large scale clearance of tenements ans into corporation houses
○1960s many began to move to suburbs - urban sprawl
○Celtic Tiger - urban renewal schemes

Question 8

In the early 1960s where were most people employed?

Answer 8

Agriculture

Question 9

What was work and industry like in the 1960s?

Answer 9

○Arrrival of foreign companies that focused on light industry
○Many of the factories built on outskirts
○Boundary of cities continue to expand

Question 10

What did sports and leisure used like?

Answer 10

○1900s people used to gather in people’s homes and tell stories or sing songs
○Local GAA played on Sunday
○’Foreign’ sports like rugby played in some areas

Question 11

How has sports and leisure changed?

Answer 11

○Show bands became popular in the 1960s
○Rock ‘n’ Roll music became popular
○1970s discos replaced dance halls
○1990s dance music

Question 12

What did transport used like?

Answer 12

○Trams in Dublin, Cork and Belfast
○Long distance journeys taken by steam trains which were very slow
○Cars were very rare

Question 13

In 1945, how many licensed cars were on the roads?

Answer 13

Only 7,845

Question 14

How has transport changed?

Answer 14

○From 1960s onwards, cars became cheaper and the main method of transport
○Dual-carriageways and motorways
○Cities suffered from traffic congestion and pollution
○New by passes and ring roads
○Aerlingus and Ryanair

Question 15

What did communications used like?

Answer 15

○Letter writing
○Telegraph
○Telephones were rarely used

Question 16

How has the role of women in education changed?

Answer 16

○Intermediate Education Act 1878 and Royal University of Ireland Act 1879 allowed girls to sit exams and take university degrees
○Not until 1904 Trinity allowed women into main male campus
○After 1908, all universities accepted women
○In 1998 women accounted for 55% of all students rather that 25% in 1950

Question 17

How has the role of women in voting changed?

Answer 17

○Better access to education resulted in more women demanding suffrage
○1896 - Women’s Suffrage Association
○1908 - Irish Women’s Franchise League
○Countess Markievicz was first woman to be elected as MP

Question 18

How has the role of women in work changed?

Answer 18

○In 1901, third of all employed women worked in domestic services
○1932 - ‘marriage bar’
○Ireland’s membership of UN in 1955 and EEC in 1973 also helped women
○1972 - Commission on the Status of Women
○1977 Employment Equalities Act
○1990 Mary Robinson elected president, followed by Mary McAleese in 1997