Editing Seán Lemass (section)

===Minister for Industry and Commerce===
[[File:Seán Lemass circa 1932.png|thumb|left|Lemass in 1932]]
In 1932, Fianna Fáil took office in the [[Irish Free State]], remaining in government for 16 uninterrupted years. The party which Lemass had described as only a "slightly constitutional party" in 1929<ref group="note">In 1929 Lemass himself was not above resorting to illegal behaviour. He discussed with the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] the possibility of attacking [[Remembrance Day]] ceremonies due to be held in [[College Green, Dublin|College Green]] in the centre of Dublin and which drew thousands of people. However, the attack never took place and Lemass broke off contact with the IRA soon afterwards. ''National Archives of Ireland files''.{{Better source needed|date=April 2022}}</ref> was now leading the Free State, a state that de Valera and Lemass had fought a civil war to destroy a decade earlier. De Valera appointed Lemass as [[Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment|Minister for Industry and Commerce]], one of the more senior cabinet positions in the [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Executive Council]], which he would occupy, with only one short break, in all three of de Valera's governments.<ref name=dib/>

Lemass had the two difficult tasks of developing Irish industry behind his new tariff walls, and convincing the conservative [[Department of Finance (Ireland)|Department of Finance]] to promote state involvement in industry. Against the background of the [[Great Depression]], he and de Valera engaged in the [[Anglo-Irish Trade War]] which lasted from 1933 until 1938, causing severe damage and hardship to the Irish economy and the cattle industry. In 1933, Lemass set up the [[Industrial Credit Corporation]] to facilitate investment for industrial development; in the climate of the depression, investment had dried up. A number of semi-state companies, modelled on the success of the [[Electricity Supply Board|ESB]], were also set up. These included the [[Irish Sugar Company]], to develop the sugar-beet industry, [[Bord na Móna|Turf Development Board]] for turf development, and an Irish airline, [[Aer Lingus]]. Years later Lemass described Aer Lingus as his "proudest achievement".<ref name=dib/>

The Irish market was still too small for multiple companies to exist, so practically all the semi-states had a monopoly on the Irish market. While Lemass concentrated on economic matters, de Valera focused primarily on constitutional affairs, leading to the passage of the new [[Constitution of Ireland]] in 1937. De Valera became [[Taoiseach]], while Lemass served in the new Government (the new name for the cabinet) again as Minister for Industry and Commerce.<ref name=dib/>

Subsequently, Irish [[economic historian]]s have found that many of his decisions on tariffs and licences were made on an ad-hoc basis, with little coherent policy and forward planning.<ref>Daly M.E., ''Industrial Development and Irish National Identity, 1922–39'' (Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1992)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Garvin|first=Tom|title=Preventing the Future; Why was Ireland so poor for so long?|url=http://www.gillmacmillan.ie/history/history/preventing-the-future|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|location=Dublin|date=2005|isbn=978-0-7171-3970-5|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052118/http://www.gillmacmillan.ie/history/history/preventing-the-future|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>