President highlights importance of remembering Famine

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins delivered a measured, insightful and thought-provoking address to the attendance at Sunday’s National Famine Commemoration ceremony in Kilrush.

 

The ceremony in Lower Frances Street, held under threateningly low clouds and intermittent showers, also featured a recital by the Army Band 1 Brigade, a superb Famine re-enactment from Crack’d Spoon Theatre, Kilkee and prayers from various religious representatives.

Speaking during his address to the crowd of approximately 1,000 people, President Higgins referred to the political policies put in place by British Prime Ministers Robert Peel and Lord John Russell, both of whom served during the Famine.

“The catastrophic consequences which followed remind us all of the damage that can be inflicted by an unthinking and uncritical adherence to a flawed ideology,” President Higgins reflected.

However, he also paid tribute to those who fought valiantly to help the starving and dispossessed people of West Clare during the Famine.

“We should also remember that there were those who did understand and who responded to the moral challenge during this calamitous time. Captain Arthur Edward Kennedy, a native of County Down, arrived in Kilrush in 1847 as an employee of the Poor Law Commission. He was deeply disturbed by events he witnessed on a daily basis. He and his family worked tirelessly to help the victims of the Famine. As you have just been told, his young daughter is depicted in one of the Illustrated London News sketches distributing clothes to the poor,” the President noted.

“Captain Kennedy’s reports while in Kilrush are perhaps the most detailed accounts available for any part of Ireland and they name literally thousands of people evicted from their homes. Although we must remember that evictions and clearances had already started and prevailed before the Famine itself,” he added.

Speaking after the ceremony to the local media, President Higgins said the loss of life during the Famine period was followed by the near death of elements of Irish culture.

“As people began to die in numbers, all of the rituals associated with the passing of life are lost. It’s not just the loss of life through death or the loss of life through people’s absence through emigration; there’s a huge impact on the culture. The Irish language was spoken by less than 5% of children under 10 at the end of the 19th century. A whole generation later, people had to try and recover a whole culture. Many of the people who were emigrating were going without knowledge of the language. It’s very important that we recall it, remember it and learn from it,” he said at the reception in Quay Mills, where he was surrounded by autograph and photo-seeking locals.

He said he had been moved by the ceremony, while his wife, Sabina, became emotional during the Crack’d Spoon Theatre’s Famine re-enactment.

“Sabina’s training is in the theatre. She’s a founder member of The Focus Theatre with Deirdre O’Connell. That was a very moving depiction, the tableau about the eviction scene and the starvation scene. It was also very realistic. It is just simply a fact that the clearance of the estates had started quite a bit of time before the Famine,” he pointed out.

“I think it was a very fine production by the people of Kilrush and particularly the depiction of the Famine experience. The piece of drama was very, very well done. I think what’s very clear now is, you’re going to see people locating the Famine in their local experiences much more,” President Higgins predicted.

He believes Irish people have finally started talking about the Famine and its impact upon the country’s psyche.

“The Great Silence is effectively broken. I think people must discuss the Famine, what lay behind it and how did so many of the population become so dependent on a single crop? This is a very, very important event in terms of the collective memory. As well, there are the ones who left and some of these people would have died on the way to North America. If they were heading for the Canadian ports, they probably were at far greater risk, although the passage was cheaper. Those who went to the United States, more of them arrived safely. They in, turn, are very proud of their heritage. The good side of it is that the Irish people are very generous towards famines abroad. I was in Somalia in the middle of the Somalian famine and my sister-in-law worked in the Ethiopian famine,” President Higgins said.

“I mentioned the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine has a lot of detail in it. It will enable people to do the work, easier than it was before. Really, it was the descendants of those who had gone abroad to the US, who were responsible for most of the major work from the end of the 19th century. I mentioned that, at one stage, the workhouses in Kilrush and Ennistymon exceeded the local population. Within five years, Kilrush lost 50% of its population,” he noted.

In conclusion, President Higgins referred to an editorial in The London Times after the Famine.

“In my speech, I made reference to The London Times, which had been very unsympathetic at times during the middle of the Famine. Twenty years afterwards, they said that a great mistake had been made because now the Irish were in the country [US] that was going to be one of the most powerful in the world and they would never let people forget the Famine and who was responsible for it,” he concluded.

Wings to Fly performed at event
MUSICIANS from Teamwork in Kilrush composed the lyrics for Crack’d Spoon Theatre’s Famine production on Sunday.

Wings To Fly was written by Emma Troy and Mick Daly, who is Emma’s grandad and is involved with Crack’d Spoon.

“This song was written in the point of view of a young girl. While writing this song, I pictured a girl, around 15-years-old, left to take care of her family after her parents passed away. This happened to many young people at the time,” Emma explained.

“This girl was struggling for her life. She remembered a time that she had no worries and lived comfortably. She wishes to gain wings like the swallows to escape from the harsh life, like the swallows escape from the winter. Her wish is finally granted as she escapes to heaven, away from the hunger and pain,” Emma added.

The song was accompanied by Cristóir King and Cathal Keane.

Radio drama brings reports to life
MORE than any other newspaper, the Illustrated London News brought to life the tragedy of the Irish Famine as it unfolded and readers in Britain were confronted with horrific pictures of Kilrush and Skibbereen as they sipped their morning tea.

As part of the National Famine Commemoration, Raidió Corca Baiscinn produced a series of five reports from the Kilrush Union of 1849. The reports were presented as present-day radio news reports and really brought to life the words of James Mahoney, the correspondent and artist who visited the union in December 1849.

Raidió Corca Baiscinn producer, Jason Murphy plays the part of James Mahoney in the drama, with volunteer broadcaster, Rita McCarthy playing the role of the newsreader.

These reports have now been made into a 30-minute programme and will be broadcast on Raidió Corca Baiscinn on 92.5 and 94.8 fm on Friday at 5pm and repeated on Sunday at 3pm. People can also listen online at www.rcb.ie.

As a final event in the National Famine Commemoration, this programme seeks to highlight the eyewitness accounts of the horrors of the Famine in West Clare to life, taking the listener on a journey into their country’s history.