This paper argues that agrarianism was a central force in shaping outcomes in Irish social insurance in the post-war period, as Irish policy makers sought to balance the needs of urban and rural Ireland, and the interests of diverse groups in the agricultural sector. Using the Beveridge Report as a policy template, Irish policy makers struggled to apply this model to very different Irish conditions, where the agricultural sector had a profound economic and ideological weight. The paper points to the need for political theories of the welfare state to encompass variation in the way in which agrarian interests are structured.