Mr. Conor Falvey:

I acknowledge everyone present in the room and his or her bona fides in terms of their interest in and commitment to this issue. That is welcome from the Department's perspective. I had the privilege of accompanying the Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, on a trip to Melbourne in October to attend an international Famine commemoration event which was held in Williamstown, where some of the great great grandchildren of the orphan girls who travelled on the Earl Grey ships in the late 1840s up to 1850 laid wreaths at the memorial stone and a message from President Michael D. Higgins was read. It was a much more moving and emotional event than I had anticipated. An academic round table discussion followed which was facilitated by the chairs and professors of Irish studies in various universities. It was a standing room only event which was also very emotional for all those who attended in discussing the Famine and also the more recent experiences of Irish emigrants in Australia.

It provided a forum for that which I think people had been seeking.

As for the locations for events, I can only say that the rotation, on the advice and in the view of the committee, as I understand it, is backed fully. The departure this year was a once-off, and Deputy Ó Cuív has made his views known on this on a number of occasions. The website to which Professor Cooke referred earlier tells this story about the impact of the Famine very clearly and graphically. One can see the people in the worst classes of accommodation in rural areas engaged in agriculture, the absolute destruction of those communities and the way in which towns and communities which existed before the Famine were gone by 1851. If it were of any interest to members of the committee, we could perhaps ask UCC to facilitate a demonstration at some stage. To come back to the basic point, though, a Government decision is now in place on the holding of the event on a specified weekend. The point has been made that this can move, and anything is possible. Given the nature of Government decisions, however, Government does not vacate them very quickly because they then have less weight and magnitude as a result. There is no intention to dilute any of the supports in place at present for commemoration of the Famine.