1. An Gόrta Mόr The Great Famine
Adapted from:
Accessed on: 28/09/2016

2. Introduction
A famine is when there is a very severe shortage or lack of food for a large number of people.
During a famine, there is:
hunger,
malnutrition,
starvation and
often death among the people.

3. The Great Famine
The worst famine that ever happened in Ireland is called the Great Famine.
The beginning
1845
The worst years
The end
1850

4. Radical population loss
It is estimated that by the end of the famine
almost one million people died
another million Irish people emigrated
Ireland’s population was over 8 million
1841
It was reduced to about 6.5 million
by 1851

5. The Blight
One of the causes of the Great Famine was a disease called blight which destroyed the potato crop.
The potato was the only food available to the majority of the people, especially the poorest, in Ireland at the time.
They grew potatoes on small plots of ground and had no money to buy any other foods.
When the blight destroyed the potato crops every year from 1845, the people faced starvation and death.

6. Soup Kitchens
In summer 1847, the government set up some soup kitchens to give the starving people hot soup. A group called the Society of Friend (the Quakers) did a lot of work to feed the poor. However, in the Autumn of 1847, the government shut down the soup kitchens. They expected that the next crop of potatoes might be good and told poor people that they could go to the workhouses for help.

7. Workhouses
Workhouses were places where the very poor, known as paupers, could go to live.
Once they entered the workhouse, people had to wear a uniform and were given a very basic diet.
The main food they were given was called stirabout, which was similar to a weak oatmeal porridge.
Families were split up once inside.
Men, women, girls and boys were all forced to stay in different parts of the building.

8. Workhouses There were strict rules in the workhouse such as:
keeping silence at certain times,
inmates were not allowed to:
play cards,
disobey orders or
try to escape from the workhouse.
People were often ill when they entered the workhouse and as a result many inmates died of diseases, which spread quickly in the workhouses.
The main diseases were typhus, cholera and dysentery.

9. Landlords
The poorer people were cottiers and labourers who did not own their own land or properties. The majority had to pay the rent to their landlords for accommodation. When tenants could not pay the rent, they were usually evicted.
Some landlords tried their best to help their tenants and did not charge them rent. A number of these landlords went broke because of this.
However, huge numbers of people were evicted from their homes by their landlords during the famine.

10. Black ‘47 1847 saw the greatest number of deaths in Ireland.
The paradox was people were dying of starvation, while shiploads of food were leaving the country under military escort, and merchants were making a small fortune with massive prices.

11. Famine Emigration
As the famine and diseases intensified, the minds of the Irish people turned to emigration. In a great mass movement they made their way to America and England.
They left their country with hatred in their hearts for the British Government. Historians estimate that more than a million emigrated from Ireland to North America, and about the same amount emigrated to Great Britain.
Many emigrated to Canada because the fares were low or the landlords paid their way. They crossed the border into America at the first opportunity.

12. Coffin Ships
The fact that many of the emigrants suffered from fever, together with the overcrowded and dirty conditions on board, the ships became known as the "coffin ships” as the diseases spread out quickly.
It is estimated that as many as 40% of steerage passengers died either en-route or immediately after arrival.
Although they were regulated, many of the ships were privately owned, and some captains grossly overcrowded them in order to get more fares.

13. Life Abroad
The Irish were unwelcome in America because they were poor and they were carrying fever.
They sheltered in cellars, basements and ruined houses, until they found proper housing.
When they secured work, they sent home money for their relatives to come out. But it was not until the second or third generation that the Irish began to establish themselves, and become successful and powerful in their new country.
Henry Ford, John F. Kennedy and Barrack Obama can be mentioned among the most famous people of Irish origin who made their mark in America.

14. Background music
The piece you could hear during the presentation is “Funeral Canticle” by John Tavener
[Accessed from
I hope it helped me to express the acknowledgment of the tragic circumstances of the Great Famine and its last stanza to say Rest in Peace to the deceased:
Grant, Oh Lord, in love unceasing, Rest to him now lying here. Grant him rest among the faithful, In the life beyond compare. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
[Accessed from translated from Greek into English]

15. Thank you.