VICTIMS OF the Famine of 1845-1848 were remembered yesterday at a special ceremony in Skibbereen in west Cork, a town which was particularly affected by the greatest social calamity Ireland has ever experienced, losing up to 28,000 of its inhabitants. The catastrophic failure of the potato crop during the 1840s was a transforming event in Ireland.
The population, which exceeded eight million in the census of 1841, was reduced by approximately 1.5 million through death and emigration.
The first National Famine Memorial Day commemoration officially got under way at 1.30pm yesterday at O’Donovan Rossa Park in Skibbereen.
A second ceremony followed at nearby Abbeystrewery Cemetery, the final resting place of thousands who perished in the Famine.
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív said Skibbereen was at the epicentre of the national tragedy that was the Famine.
“The Skibbereen area was one of the worst affected, and the mass graves of between 8,000 and 10,00 famine victims at Abbeystrewery Cemetery are testament to this.
“Today let us remember and honour all those who died or suffered loss during the Famine, which is one of the greatest tragedies in our country’s history.”
Prayers were read by representatives from the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church and the Society of Friends.
Rev Moba Mwanzele of the Methodist Church said the memory of the Famine taught Irish people to share with the starving in developing countries.
He said not only did the Famine kill people, but it led millions far from their homelands to foreign countries with “all the complex feelings of living far from home”.
There were readings by the mayor of Skibbereen, Catherine O’Keeffe, and Jerry O’Sullivan, secretary of the Skibbereen Famine Commemoration Committee.
Music was provided by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and Cór Chúil Aodha.
Ms O’Keeffe’s reading was an extract from An Gorta Mór by Peadar Ó Laoire, while Mr O’Sullivan delivered an extract from an open letter to the Duke of Wellington by Nicholas Cummins, a Cork magistrate, published in the Times on Christmas Eve, 1846.
Cummins had visited the coastal district of Skibbereen and wrote of the “horrible images” that were fixed upon his brain.
He said in his letter to the Duke of Wellington that the scenes which presented themselves in the hovels of Skibbereen were such as “no tongue or pen can convey the slightest idea of”.
Mr Ó CuÍv said the planting of a rowan tree was particularly symbolic as he spotted a number of trees of this type growing near the quarantine site at Grosse Ile in Canada when he visited the country this month for a Famine commemoration ceremony.
Many thousands of Irish people emigrated to Canada during the Famine years.
Mr Ó Cuív , who is chairman of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, led the walk from O’Donovan Rossa Park to the main formal event, the State flag and wreath-laying ceremonies at Abbeystrewery Cemetery.
Attendees included mayor of County Cork Cllr Noel Harrington, Deputy Jim O’Keeffe TD, Choctaw Nation representative Gary White Deer, whose ancestors in the US donated money to Famine victims, and members of both the National Famine Commemoration Committee and Skibbereen Famine Commemoration Committee.
Hundreds of locals also attended the event.
The ceremony at the cemetery involved the laying of wreaths, a piper playing a lament, the raising of the Tricolour to full mast and the observation of a minute’s silence in memory of all those who died in the Famine.
Mr Ó Cuív also unveiled a commemorative plaque on behalf of the Government.
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