Joseph Brennan, as secretary of the Irish Department of Finance (1923–7) and chair of the Irish Currency Commission (1927–43), was a pivotal influence on Irish banking and currency affairs. Yet, within the existing literature, his adherence to conservative British norms is seen as providing a ‘bleak prescription’ for the Irish economy. However, such a view ignores the fact that Brennan was far from dogmatic on banking and currency issues and underplays his incrementalist, and often internationalist, approach to the development of Irish monetary institutions. Brennan's actions up to the early 1940s were based on the realities of Ireland's slowly receding economic and intellectual dependency on Britain, a ‘dependency’ often misrepresented in the existing literature as a more primitive, pre-Keynesian, conservative approach. However, rather than acting as a restraining influence on Irish economic development, the policies Brennan advocated enabled Ireland to avoid the instability associated with many smaller, emerging nation states in the 1920s and 1930s. The focus on continuity – which guaranteed currency and banking stability – represented the realities of Ireland's reliance on the sluggish British economy in the decades after independence. Brennan's achievement, in helping to sustain banking and currency stability notwithstanding economic uncertainty, a fragile political environment (and suspicious banking interests), deserves wider acknowledgement.

中文翻译：

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重新评估约瑟夫布伦南和爱尔兰银行和货币政策的成就 1922-1943

约瑟夫·布伦南（Joseph Brennan）作为爱尔兰财政部长（1923-7 年）和爱尔兰货币委员会主席（1927-43 年）对爱尔兰银行业和货币事务产生了举足轻重的影响。然而，在现有文献中，他对保守的英国规范的坚持被视为为爱尔兰经济提供了“惨淡的处方”。然而，这种观点忽略了这样一个事实，即布伦南在银行和货币问题上远非教条主义，并低估了他对爱尔兰货币制度发展的渐进主义，通常是国际主义的态度。直到 1940 年代初，布伦南的行动是基于爱尔兰对英国的经济和智力依赖逐渐消退的现实，这种“依赖”在现有文献中经常被误认为是一种更原始​​的、前凯恩斯主义的、保守的方法。然而，布伦南倡导的政策并没有限制爱尔兰的经济发展，而是使爱尔兰能够避免与 1920 年代和 1930 年代许多较小的新兴民族国家相关的不稳定。对连续性的关注——这保证了货币和银行的稳定——代表了爱尔兰在独立后的几十年里依赖于低迷的英国经济的现实。尽管存在经济不确定性、脆弱的政治环境（以及可疑的银行利益），布伦南在帮助维持银行业和货币稳定方面取得的成就值得更广泛的认可。对连续性的关注——这保证了货币和银行的稳定——代表了爱尔兰在独立后的几十年里依赖于低迷的英国经济的现实。尽管存在经济不确定性、脆弱的政治环境（以及可疑的银行利益），布伦南在帮助维持银行业和货币稳定方面取得的成就值得更广泛的认可。对连续性的关注——这保证了货币和银行的稳定——代表了爱尔兰在独立后的几十年里依赖于低迷的英国经济的现实。尽管存在经济不确定性、脆弱的政治环境（以及可疑的银行利益），布伦南在帮助维持银行业和货币稳定方面取得的成就值得更广泛的认可。