There were a few reasons for this, most boil down to where Ireland is situated, its ability to stockpile goods and how widespread an area the war affected. The availability of all goods was severely curtailed all over Europe, and what there was available rose dramatically in price. Ireland had only gained independence in 1922, and while the government had been following policies to increase Ireland's self sufficiency, the dependency on Britain for trade and shipping was still very significant. Ireland's ability to handle it's own shipping needs was not remotely sufficient. The Emergency Powers Act (EPA), 1939 introduced travel restrictions, rationing and censorship and wasn't repealed til 1946.

Before the war, in the uneasy time when most of Europe were aware of the danger of an outbreak of another war, Ireland had made some attempts to start securing markets outside of Britain, following a warning by the British Food Department that the outbreak of war would result in severe tightening of the UK market. The Emergency Supplies Branch, part of the Department of Industry and Commerce, encouraged manufacturers and importers to lay in reserves, to have a minimum stock level to cover at least 6 months. This obviously worked less well for perishable goods and some good just weren't available to the Irish to bulk buy. There were considerable fluctuations in the market, storage was a serious issue. All of Europe was engaging in similar stockpiling and market playing exercises at the same time. There were at least some belief that another war would not break out, or that it wouldn't last anything like as long as the previous war, this belief was also voiced in Britain, not least by Samuel Hoare, the British Home Secretary.

Ireland declared itself neutral but that didn't mean that other countries necessarily treated it as such. In November 1939 Roosevelt's American Neutrality Act included Ireland in what was known as combat zone, so American ships could not supply Ireland. The waters around Ireland were regularly patrolled by german uboats and about 25% of the allies and neutral ships hit were hit in the waters to the north, west, southwest, south and southeast of Ireland. There was a very strong feeling that Ireland should allow the allies to use her ports, to the point where plans were in place to take some by force, if necessary. In 1941 effective sanctions were put in place; exports to Ireland of food, feedstuff, electrical goods, iron , chemicals, fertilizers and agricultural goods were now subject to licensing. There was considerable dissatisfaction with Ireland's position on the Allied side. The more dissatisfied the allies became the harder the squeeze on Ireland's licenses. Access to tea - the reason I know anything at all about this subject, was heavily, heavily cut. The items rationed in Ireland are not the same as were in Britain, meat and eggs were not rationed, for example.

There is a huge amount of detail and background to this available in a PHD Thesis by Ciarán Bryan - Rationing in Emergency Ireland, 1939-48 and Brian Girvin's The Emergency: Neutral Ireland 1939-45

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