Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this issue. What I am specifically looking for is a fixed date in the calendar as a national commemoration date for the Famine. The Famine was the greatest tragedy that befell our country. It was far and away the greatest loss of Irish life not only in the history of our own State but in the island of Ireland's existence, and yet we do not have a date in the calendar to commemorate it. We have a date to commemorate 1916 and one to commemorate all those who died in other wars on behalf of our country, but what is, perhaps, our country's greatest tragedy is somehow not deemed important enough to be marked by a permanent date in the calendar. This is no longer acceptable.

I have written to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who was kind enough to reply to me, and I have submitted a parliamentary question, as have a number of other Deputies. The issue of whether we should have a permanent date or a floating date, as is currently the case, has also been raised with me by groups in my constituency. The Minister, who is chair of the commemoration committee, has advocated that a floating date is acceptable because it has a number of benefits. I am afraid I do not agree with the Minister on this and I cannot accept her argument.

Two matters are of vital importance and would benefit hugely from a permanent date. The first is that if we want to embed into the next generation of children in this country what the Famine was and what it did to our country then there is a need to have a permanent date in the calendar which can be worked to on a yearly basis as part of the school curriculum. This would enable teachers to work with their students in particular to build a programme around recognising what the Famine was, how it affected our people and how it affects the Ireland in which we live today. That cannot be done properly if the date is set on an ad hocbasis, based on who may or may not be available to attend at some point in a given year.

The other point is that the Famine, by its very nature and by the emigration that followed in the centuries after it, effectively internationalised this event for Ireland. The diaspora, the people who are Irish but born and living in countries all over this world, particularly in the United States, should be fully involved in commemorating what is our greatest tragedy. Again, this can only be done if one can say to people that on a given Sunday, year in, year out, Ireland will mark this national tragedy.

We need not mark it just as a tragedy. We can also mark it as what we have come from as a country, where we are going, and how it has affected our people. It can be a source on which the current generation can work together with the next generation and the Irish diaspora throughout the world. However, the first thing that needs to change is a mentality that does not accept that this greatest ever Irish tragedy is not worthy of a fixed date in our calendar. I strongly urge the Minister and the Government to reconsider their position on this and to put forward a date in the calendar, preferably in the spring, which will forever mark this occasion and allow it to be our third commemoration day.

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