Victims of the Great Hunger remembered

VICTIMS of the Great Famine were remembered yesterday at a series of moving ceremonies.The first National Famine Memorial Day Commemoration officially got under way at O'Donovan Rossa Park in Skibbereen. A second ceremony followed at nearby Abbeystrowry Cemetery, the final resting place of thousands who perished. The day had been earmarked by the Government to commemorate and honour the 1.5 million people who died or emigrated between 1845 and 1851.Skibbereen in west Cork was devastated by the Famine -- 28,000 of its inhabitants died and a further 8,000 people emigrated.Yesterday children from seven local schools took part in a candle lighting ceremony in memory of all the victims, and a rowan tree was planted in remembrance.Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv said Skibbereen was at the epicentre of a national tragedy in the 1840s. "The Skibbereen area was one of the worst affected and the mass graves of between 8,000 and 10,000 Famine victims at Abbeystrowry Cemetery are testament to this."The catastrophic failure of the potato crop during the 1840s decimated the population of Ireland, which exceeded eight million in the Census of 1841.PastMr O Cuiv, who unveiled a plaque at Grosse Ile near Quebec City in Canada last week to commemorate the 7,000 Irish men, women, and children who are buried there, said the Famine was a transforming event in Ireland."We have come such a long way since the Famine, but it is important that we do not forget our past and the experiences that have shaped us as a people," he said.Prayers were read by representatives of the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church and the Society of Friends. Jerry O'Sullivan, secretary to Skibbereen Famine Commemoration Committee, delivered an extract from an open letter to the Duke of Wellington by Nicholas Cummins.Mr Cummins was a Cork magistrate, and the letter was published in 'The Times' on Christmas Eve, 1846. He had visited the hard-hit coastal district of Skibbereen and wrote of the "horrible images" that were fixed upon his brain. Mr Cummins said that the scenes which presented themselves in Skibbereen were such as "no tongue or pen can convey the slightest idea of".As well as readings by the Mayor of Skibbereen, Catherine O'Keeffe, music was provided by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and Cor Chuil Aodha. The Government plans to rotate the location of the annual Famine event between the four provinces. Next year, the official ceremony will be held in County Mayo.

I don't wish to be crass, but as devastating as the Famine was for Ireland, it was a God send for the New World. The Irish built the New World and if it wasn't for them God knows where we would all be now.

My great great grandparents John and Mary emigrated from Ireland to the US at that time and lived here until the 1870's. I live in the same town in which they settled and they are buried not far from here.

By the way, their stone lists the county they came from but it is worn and barely readable. It seems to say County "METH" or "HETH." These county names don't seem to exist so I wonder if they were different spellings in those days. Does anyone have any clues?

very true Gav .... even until recent times many young irish still emigrated !!

newyorkd .... i'm guessing maybe county meath .... but if it was ur great great grandparents it would have been in gaelic and An Mhi

here's list of irish counties with the gaelic spelling also !!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Ireland

nice posting Ciaran and a reminder that the Empire's policies caused many deaths close to home as well as in distant lands.

That'd be probably County Meath also called the Royal County North of Dublin in the Boyne valley.

Mixed feeling about this type of "Commemoration".

On the one hand it is always useful to be aware of history and the Famine was indeed a great tragedy and horrific example of bad governance or oppression by an imperial power which was nearly at it's zenith of world power, yet it's own citizens and those victims of British rule in Ireland were treated very badly and for all its supposed glory the British empire was at least shown as the rotten and evil empire that it always was at it's core- which is not to deny that, as with all evil empires, there was many good aspects too, even the British empire which was never a sustainable project and eventually left many positive things in it's wake as Britain developed and matured into a more positive force for good in the world. In the case of the Irish Famine the UK actually apologized in 1997 which is a good sign of the more progressive and mature elements of British culture and society.

On the other hand the Famine did take place so long ago that it is truly from a totally different world and there is really no comparison with the modern world and in the case of Ireland itself, The language was essentially lost after the famine and the population never recovered fully. Even today the population of the island of Ireland is less than it was in the 1840s. The problem I have- or at least certain discomfort or apathy about this "Commemoration" is that it is just so far removed in time from Ireland and if any country is to keep looking back at its history from 150 years we could be bored to death with such detail? Not sure about this- just a part of me feels like saying something like... Jasus there still going on about something which happened so long ago? And bars no relationship with present day Ireland.

Just some thoughts/musings.........

It was the British government's protectionist Corn Laws imposing an import duty on Irish corn making it uneconomic to produce cereals that exacerbated the potato famine. When the fungal disease Phytophthora infestans struck, it devastated Ireland's potato crop. The cause was unknown at the time, it has only been positively identified since, and the terrible irony is that it could have been prevented by the simple means of spraying the potato crop with a solution of copper sulphate During the seven years of the blight, a million people died and a further million emigrated. Ireland has never fully recovered from this mass depopulation, amounting to about 25% of the 1845 population

Thanks for that informative post about the potato famine, Peter. The Irish side of my ancestors left Ireland right around that time -- 1854. Condolences to the Irish...

I love eating mashed potatoes smothered in butter with a bit of salt and pepper.

If it weren't for the Irish we'd all be up the creek.

County Kildare.

cheers Iain u know us celts we got to have someone to blame !!

i was guessing Meath also Hobbes

allseasonsman ... i would guess the famine is probably the pivotal event in our history and will always have a place for remembrance.

thanks for the comment Peter ..... i believe Ireland still has a smaller population now than it did pre-famine. as well as the corn laws the british actually EXPORTED food from Ireland during the famine.

thanks Jason

add scallions and u've got CHAMP there Don !!

u from the lilywhite county Mike ... it's amazing how many ppl have roots back in ireland !!