Irish History X, Vol. 3

In times of such great uncertainty, it helps to be able to look into the past and see how those who came before us grappled with the hand that fortune dealt them. In the rich, yet tragic history of this great Celtic land, lie great stories, which, when recounted, inspire anew. In this series, The Fair Observations looks back and tries to give a fair and balanced account of what happened before us.

The Great Famine

The Great Famine occurred in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It was caused by a blight which wiped out much of the staple food of the majority of people in Ireland, the potato. Too poor to buy other types of food, hundred of thousands of people starved to death or died of diseases. About one million people emigrated, and Ireland's population sank by 20-25% over the course of a decade. Some, in a desperation comparable to being severely defeated by the soccer world champions, were forced to stoop to stealing Sir Charles Trevelyan's corn.
The blight occurred in other European countries, but Ireland was the only one to continue exporting food throughout the famine years. Leaders at the time justified this by asserting that Ireland's strength came through being an export economy. Citing statistics, they demonstrated how export figures had begun to climb again, and the resulting economic benefits would surely generate jobs and lift people out of poverty. 'Looking forward', they stated, 'this is the only plan guaranteed to get us back on track'. Even when this was translated into Irish, none of the peasants had the remotest idea what this actually meant.
Despite all the evidence of increased economic activity, the benefits were not felt in people's lives. Opponents of the policy objected to the necessity placed on Ireland, which needed food, to give food to those who had it in abundance. The leaders argued that poverty and starvation had damaged Ireland's reputation abroad, and we needed to continue exporting food in order to rebuild our good reputation.
Our aforementioned reputation, though often negative, varied from nation to nation. Prussian aristocrats, and the population at large — many of whom were unhappy with the support the German state was giving Ireland — held the impression that Ireland's woes were caused by the laziness and irresponsibility of its people, and we were the architects of our own destruction. The British made mocking comments about how adamantly we were pushing for independence, yet asked for assistance within a decade of Catholic Emancipation. Other European countries made similar assumptions, though many of them feared contagion. The potato blight was widespread in Europe, but other countries had closed their ports and kept their food within their boarders. It was feared that if Ireland closed its ports, there would be a crisis of confidence in food across Europe, which would adversity affect food distribution.
Some people suggested that the government introduce a scheme of food sharing, where wealthy aristocrats handed over some of their surplus. This was ignored, and the gentry open reviled such a scheme, reminding the peasants that they had worked hard to earn their surplus, and it was outrageous to suggest that the government would take it from them only to distribute it freely among those who hadn't earned it.
A break in the crisis finally came when the peasants began referring to government ministers as 'that shower' and demanded they be stripped of their entitlements. The outpouring of bile for government officials, and the frequent incantations of 'Táimid fucíocht, buachaillí ' and 'bhfuil an tír seo a shithailíocht' ¹ finally stemmed the tide of starvation and doom.

^{1. 'We're fucked, lads.' and 'This country's a shithole.'↩}