Reflections on Fifty Years as Editor/Co- Editor of The Economy of Ireland

1. HISTORY OF THE BOOK

The beginnings

I was asked by my head of department at Trinity College Dublin, Louden

Ryan, in July 1970 to deliver the SF (second year) Economy of Ireland course

(to around 220 students). Having come from an engineering background, I

had no real interest in economic policy and current affairs at that time, so I

was maybe a good choice! The challenge as I saw it was to make the course

appealing by concentrating on longer-term issues rather than on short-term

and often tedious information.