The proposal for a memorial to Famine victims on Mutton Island, made recently by Galwayman and writer Mark Kennedy, deserves the full support of Galway people and organisations.
This is the view of Labour Party president and Galway West TD Michael D Higgins, who has praised Mr Kennedy’s “imaginative proposal” that, on the sides of the Mutton Light Tower, the names of the ships which departed Galway during the years of the Great Famine be inscribed.
“Mark makes the excellent point that the light from the lighthouse at Mutton Island was probably the last sight of Galway and Ireland that these desperate refugees from the Famine saw,” said Dep Higgins. “Many, of course, would not arrive at the other side of the Atlantic. Others, very weak, died shortly after arrival.”
Dep Higgins also pointed out that Mr Kennedy, in his proposal, included names of those who sailed on the Cushlamachree, just one of the ships that sailed from Galway during the Famine years.
“It includes dozens of surnames, some of the relatives of whom are still in Galway,” said Dep Higgins.
Dep Higgins said that as Galway Harbour is preparing for the Volvo Ocean Race next year, Mr Kennedy’s proposal is “most appropriate” and a “beautiful and dignified way of recalling events which we should never forget and from which we should learn in relating to others.”
