Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I salute the work of an Teachta Brophy in introducing this Bill. As he said on First Stage, this "small, compact Bill [proposes that we] should have a national day marked in the calendar to commemorate the greatest tragedy that has ever befallen the country". The Deputy is proposing to designate the second Sunday in May gach bliain as the annual Famine commemoration day. The Great Hunger was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. I believe much of it was needless. It is remarkable in many ways that we do not have a national day set aside to mark this enormously significant historical, social and cultural event. I am aware of the previous work of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, which was first established in 2008 on foot of a Government decision to commemorate the Great Irish Famine. The annual national commemoration revolves between the four provinces of Ireland. The most recent commemoration took place on Sunday, 11 September 2016 at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. This event was led by President Michael D. Higgins, who unveiled a Celtic cross donated by the Glasnevin Trust to act as a permanent memorial to the victims of the Famine.

This country's national day of commemoration - an lá cuimhneacháin náisiúnta - commemorates all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions. It occurs each year on the nearest Sunday to 11 July, which is the anniversary of the date in 1921 on which a truce was signed to end the Irish War of Independence, which had its tosach i Sulchóid Bheag, Contae Thiobraid Árann in January 1919. I fail to see why a similar date cannot be set aside to mark the millions who died during the Great Famine and the great acts of charity and compassion of the many people who tried to assist the victims of the Famine. We still have memorial tours and historical projects relating to the various workhouses and soup kitchens that people tried to establish.

While the National Famine Commemoration Day Bill 2017 calls on us to remember the great suffering of the past, we should not and must not forget the present. We are told we are living in a time of absolute affluence, but child poverty in this country has doubled over recent years. By drawing on data from the Central Statistics Office and the Growing Up in Ireland research, we can see that the proportion of children living in consistent poverty in Ireland almost doubled from 6.3% in 2008 to 11.2% in 2014. This equates to 138,000 children living in consistent poverty, or one in eight children going without a hot meal almost every day. The efforts of daoine ar nós the Capuchin Fathers and the Alice Leahy Trust, which was set up by a Tipperary woman, almost beggar belief.

We are happy to have new masters now. The Germans and our European colleagues forced us into penury when they imposed penal taxes on us as part of the bank bailout. This was supported and accepted by our Governments. As I have said before, we can blame many people for many things, but we should blame no one other than ourselves for the failings of modern democracy. We have our own Parliament, which we did not have when we were under the rule of John Bull and his massive empire. The sun never shone on some parts of the empire because it was so vast. Michael Davitt and many other people in the Land League did their best in poor impoverished times when people did not have the energy to stand up and fight. It is sad to say that a new Land League has had to be formed - I am a member of it - to try to assist people who are being evicted from their homes.

They are being terrorised by a third force acting for agents and so-called receivers. These companies see this money as manna from heaven. There are barristers and ex-gardaí at the head of this, out there doing the bidding of these forces. It is dirty work and blood money, passed on by the banks who are making misery for people. Banks are not giving a shilling to anybody. I have farmers and householders in my constituency who are living in fear and dread. These people are sick and ill and they are famished, with barely enough to eat because of the torture they get from banks we bailed out. These banks are laughing all the way to the bank. They have sold properties to vulture funds, which are in turn creating conditions worse than the Famine. It is a form of mental torture or psychological warfare that is driving down our people. They are being demonised and people are being left with a lack of self-esteem afterwards, which is outrageous.

The Minister is sitting there writing her notes or whatever while she and successive Governments, even one in which I was included, caused and allowed this to happen. When will we sit up and smell the coffee? We have our history and I am delighted we will have a day to commemorate it. Will we have days to commemorate the terrorism that is ongoing in the name of banks and the county registrars? What about what is going on at the Four Courts, with nobody to defend the ordinary people? It is a shame we are commemorating the Famine of the 1840s but we are in the middle of this famine, which is handmade and created by one world order. It is caused by bowing down to the rich and big business and to hell with the ordinary people.

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