Emergence and evolution of entrepreneurship in the Galway Gaeltacht

Abstract

This thesis studies and analyses how entrepreneurship emerged and evolved in a peripheral rural community from a pre-industrial stage at the end of the 19th century to a stage in the early 21st century when a transition from a manufacturing to a services economy was underway. The focal area for the research is the Gaeltacht area of County Galway, an area afforded special official status since the 1920s as part of the state's policy of preserving and promoting the Irish language.