Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister is present for the debate on this topic, of which I am sure she has a good knowledge. As my colleagues stated, Fianna Fáil fully supports the Famine Memorial Day Bill. To be fair to the Government, Deputy Colm Brophy has put forward a similar Bill.

The Famine following the failure of the potato crop in 1845 lasted for six years and 1.1 million lives were lost. If that happened in today's world, it would be seen as shocking and would rightly receive huge coverage and there would be a massive attempt to help those people. Taking account of the 2 million people who emigrated, the population of this island declined by approximately one third during the Famine. In the years preceding the Famine, a collapse of Irish manufacturing and sharp increases in the population gave rise to an intense fracturing of Irish agricultural holdings. By 1841, 45% of agricultural holdings in Ireland were less than 5 acres in area. As the size of the average agricultural holding dwindled, so too did the diversity of the average Irish peasant's diet. Peasants who had previously supplemented their staple diet of potatoes with herrings, milk and meat became increasingly reliant on potatoes, a remarkably high yield crop, for sustenance. The speed with which the blight spread astounded farmers and scientists. According to historians, even seemingly healthy potatoes quickly decayed in storage, which further impeded Ireland's food supply.

As Members are aware, by late 1845 the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had initiated a poverty relief programme in Ireland. Corn maize was imported, distributed to local relief committees and sold to peasants at cost price. Public works schemes allowed peasants to earn the wages needed to purchase the corn maize. It was hoped that that model of relief would modernise Ireland as well as providing minimum poverty alleviation. As Members know, the poverty relief programme failed miserably for a variety of reasons, including the lack of an efficient distribution network, the indifference of Irish nobility and a failure to understand the Irish context, and Irish peasants were left in dire and desolate straits.

It is right and proper that the commemoration take place at the same time every year so that people can plan accordingly and suitable commemorations be scheduled across the country. It will lead to a better understanding for all our people, the young in particular, of the great tragedy of the Famine of 1847. It saddens me that many young people do not know the history of the Famine, nor the torture, poverty and heartbreak it brought to many families across the country.

If I may be permitted to to be somewhat parochial, as the Minister is aware, Strokestown in County Roscommon is home to the National Famine Museum. We are very proud to have it. It attracts between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors each year and they see and hear the story of what happened in many parts of Ireland, particularly that part of the west of Ireland. Some 5,000 people from the locality died or emigrated during the Famine. Many got on ships in Galway and were lost while crossing the Atlantic. Others struggled to Newfoundland and Canada.

In recent years, research on 1,400 people who left Roscommon during the Famine but whose fates were unknown was carried out by historians at NUI Maynooth. It traced many of those people, some of whom reached the United States and attained very good positions in American life. Many others, however, were lost in transit. All but two of a particular family of seven who left the country were lost during the crossing of the Atlantic. There are many such tragic stories.

We were fortunate to have a national commemoration in Strokestown some years ago. It was a truly fantastic event.

I wish to give my full support to the Bill, like my colleagues. It is proper and right to have the commemoration on the same day each year, which would deservedly put it onto a higher pedestal. It will become an important part of our history about which every primary and second-level school student should know. That story is not being told in many places. It is to be hoped that the passage of this Bill, which will have the support of the House, will put the Famine on a new pedestal.

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