Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work of the committee and the National Famine Commemoration Committee, which I chair. The event goes from place to place each year and issues always arise about timing. If we keep the date flexible it means we can give a broader range of venues an opportunity to host the famine commemorations. A commemoration was held in my local town of Clones and it was a lovely event. A lot of work goes into such events and they are very much community driven. We do not want to set an exact date in stone yet because we get a better result if we can retain a degree of flexibility. That is the current position. I cannot give the Deputy a commitment that we will set a date for the commemoration but I accept her point. The commemoration of the Great Irish Famine is very much in our calendar and every year we have had the famine commemoration the involvement of local communities has made it a great success. The international event is always held. I attended it in New Orleans this year. It was a tremendous event. Significant engagement by the Irish in New Orleans was evident. They are so proud of their Irish heritage. It is important that the commemorative events would continue on an annual basis both nationally and internationally.

See this speech in context