Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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965. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question Nos 873 and 874 of 14 April 2016, if she will confirm that the inaugural official National Famine Commemoration Day took place in 2008 as indicated by a press statement (details supplied) which announces this year's commemoration as the 9th consecutive year in which the National Famine Commemoration has taken place, as opposed to this event being an informal one. [25113/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As indicated in previous replies to the House, the inception of the National Famine Commemoration was announced by the then Minister of State for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs at an event held in the Custom House in Dublin in 2008. However, the first National Famine Commemoration to include both local input and formal State ceremonials was held in Skibbereen in 2009. Since then, the event has been held annually in a similar dual format in Murrisk (2010), Clones (2011), Drogheda (2012), Kilrush (2013), Strokestown (2014), Newry (2015) and Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin (2016).

While this is the 9^thconsecutive year, therefore, in which the Great Famine has been marked following the decision made by the Government in 2008 to hold an annual National Famine Commemoration, there have been eight commemorations that included both local input and formal State ceremonials in the period 2009 to 2016, inclusive. The issue, therefore, of whether the current year’s event was the 8^thor the 9^thannual Famine Commemoration is dependent on whether the initial launch held in 2008 is included in the calculation.