Since tile 1950s tile Metals & Engineering sector has played tile leading role
in h’eland’s industrial development. It has grown a good deal faster than tile
rest of manufacturing so dlat its share ofbodl nlanufacturing enlployment and
output doubled from about 15 pet" cent in 1960 to over 30 pet" cent by tile mid-
1980s. By now Metals & Engineering, which is also referred to simply as the
"engineering" indusn’y in this paper, is h’eland’s largest industrial sector. It
includes a wide range of activities, such as tile manufacture of metals, simple
metal articles, productive machinelT and equipment, electronic and electrical
goods, medical and scientific instrnments, motor vehicles and other means of
transport such ~15 railway equipnleFlt, h*l 111ore ad~.tanced eeonolllies, SktCh as
other EEC countries or tile USA, these industries make up an even larger
proportion of manufacturing than in Ireland, typically accounting for close to
half of all manufacturing eml)loyment, so that despite the growth of Metals &
Engineering in Ireland since the 1950s, it is still of relatively small proportions
here by international standards
