PERFORMANCE

How well has independent Ireland performed? Opinions naturally differ on the quality of the cultural, intellectual and spiritual performance, where criteria of assessment are highly subjective. Opinions differ too on the quality of social and economic performance. But here it should be possible to focus the discussion on more impersonal issues. Two criteria for assessing a country's material performance are the number of citizens it can support, and the standard of living at which it can support them. Table 11 places the Irish population performance in western European perspective.

It is clear that population grew exceptionally slowly in both North and South. Both also had population densities well below the western European average of 175 in 1983/4. The implications of this exceptional experience can be addressed from a number of viewpoints. Had the South achieved the average western European growth rate of about 50 per cent since independence, she would now have a population of 4.5 million instead of 3.5 million. The North would now have nearly 1.9 million, compared with 1.6. However, Ireland was already a demographic oddity in the early twentieth century, with a population density far below the western European average. If Ireland approximated to that average, the South would now have a population of about 12 million, the North nearly 3 million.

There is nothing sacrosanct about average rates of growth or average densities. There may be many valid reasons for wide divergencies between countries recording broadly comparable general levels of socio-economic performance.