The “New Ireland” emerged in the 1990s, when the country experienced an economic-cultural boom in which it transformed from one of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the richest . the socioeconomic prosperity that spread throughout the country found its origins in the evolution from a subsistence economy to a market economy. It was in the late 1950s that the Irish economy took its first steps under conditions of normal political stability and new policies and plans were introduced and implemented to transform an Ireland which based its economy on rural and agricultural industries, into a capable of creating high standards of living, consumer goods and economic opportunities as well as the rest of Europe. The real turning point for a productivity-focused economic policy came from Sean Lemass, the economic architect of modern Ireland, who during his terms as Minister for Industry and Trade sought to move away from the protectionist policies in place 1930s towards international trade and commerce. He focused his program on foreign investment, tax breaks and grants given to foreign companies wishing to set up a company in Ireland, this would help create economic prosperity in the country and reduce the large problem of unemployment. After the introduction of this program, employment fell by a third; by the end of the 1960s, 350 foreign companies had settled in Ireland, starting what we can call industrial colonization and, employing 25% of the country's industrial workforce, emigration was significantly reduced and the population grew by... .. .. half of the sheet ......A.; Giblin, Thomas; McHugh, Deirdre, The Economic Development of Ireland in the Twentieth Century, Routledge, London, 1988. Ireland in The Coming Times- Essays to Celebrate TK Whitaker's 80 Years edited by F. O' Muircheartaigh, IPA, Dublin, 1997. Mainland Ireland : history and contemporary writings c. by C. De Petris and M. Stella,Carocci, Rome 2001.Jeffers, Jennifer M., The Irish Novel at the End of the Twentieth Century: Gender, Bodies, and Power, Palgrave, New York, 2002.Kiberd, Declan, Inventing Ireland: the Literature of the Modern Nation, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996. Allen, Kieran, The Celtic Tiger: the myth of Social Partnership in Ireland, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2000. www.ilsole24ore.com www.corriere. itwww.economist.com/www.timesonline.co.ukwww.irishtimes.comwww.independent.iewww.willstleger.com