Social changes in twentieth-century Ireland

(a) Communications – From the 1920s onwards, cars and lorries began
to dominate transport. Today, the road systems dominate the shapes
of cities such as Dublin, cork and limerick. More bypasses and ring-
roads have been built to take traffic away from city and town centres.
Air travel developed slowly in Ireland. Aer Lingus began its first flights
to Britain in 1936. Ferries have also been improved. They are now
faster and more comfortable than before. Communications have
become much faster and more accessible to everybody. Letters still
remain an important for of communication. The mass media
expanded as newspapers and magazines were joined by radio and
television. From 1926 until recent times, Ireland had one radio station
– originally called 2RN and later called Radio Éireann. Irish
newspapers remained similar in layout and content for many decades.
There were serious and popular newspapers; they followed certain
political lines. The television service, too, has expanded. RTE was the
only television station in Ireland from its first broadcast on New Year’s
Eve, 1961, until RTE 2/Network 2, Teilifís na Gaeilge and TV3 were
added.
(b) Education – in the early years of the 20 century, irish women were
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second-class citizens. They weren’t allowed to vote, their education

was limited and they were largely dependent on their husbands, who
were the bread-winners as they had a proper education. In recent
times, women are treated the same as men. They are allowed to
vote, they get an equal education to men and are able to live their
own lives, not depending on having husbands.
(c) Housing – in rural places, rural electrification came in the 1950s. new
kitchen appliances started being used, though only by richer people at
first. Electric cookers and washing machines replaces manual
mechanisms and water pumps were built so people could have indoor
toilets. In the 1960s Ireland joined the EEC and became richer. By
this time, farmers expected better standards of living and houses
were modernised or new ones were built. The new houses were
mostly bungalows with built-in furniture and central heating. They
were usually built farther away from the farmyard. In urban places,
most of the middle and upper-classes lived in the suburbs. The well-
off people lived in detatched houses with servant quarters and larger
gardens. Middle-class people lived in semi-detatched houses. These
new houses had electricity, running water and gas for cooking. In the
20 century, the number of people living in cities and towns grew. By
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1986, nearly 60 percent of irish people lived in urban areas. Living

conditions slowly improved except for very poor people. In the 1950s,
more working class suburbs were added to Dublin, cork and other
cities. Families were moved to better houses but some complained
about moving away from friends and neighbours. The middle and
upper-class suburbs got better as time went by. Upper-class citizens
lived in detatched houses while middle class people could live in
either detached or semi-detached houses.