Search Results for 'Irish Famine'

THE IRISH Famine, the greatest humanitarian disaster in Europe in the 19th century, leaving one million people dead, with another million fleeing the country, is examined in a new exhibition.

It may not be scorched on the Irish psyche as the Great Famine of 1845-52 is, but the famine of 1879, which affected the west more than any other region, brought suffering and led to an increase in agrarian offences committed by furious and despairing tenants. In 1879 the Great Famine was still a painful memory for a large number of people. Most had witnessed first-hand family and friends die a slow, torturous, death by starvation, and had parted indefinitely with family members who had emigrated in an attempt to escape the living hell of famine. The population of Mayo fell by almost 30 per cent during the Great Famine due to death and emigration, and by 1879 the county was still recovering.

A three-day conference on The Great Famine, featuring Irish and American academics, will take place this weekend in Ballinasloe.