Effects of the Irish Potato Famine Thi

This research paper traces, discusses and analyzes the effects of the blight of the potato crops and the resulting famine in Ireland in 1845-1849 on Irish culture. The most direct and immediate effects of the famine and the inadequate response of the authorities to it were widespread suffering, privation, starvation and deaths, primarily among the most impoverished groups of small Irish farmers and laborers in the west and southwestern parts of Ireland who depended on the potato crops for subsistence. The famine also produced and accelerated massive emigration from, and depopulation of, much of rural Ireland.

Nearly three quarters of a century and many intervening events were to transpire before Catholic Ireland achieved independence and Ireland was partitioned so no direct cause and effect relationship can be established between those developments and the famine; however, the famine undoubtedly embittered Anglo-Irish relationships. The famine weakened the traditional political, economic and social order in rural Ireland and led to the emergence of different patterns of land ownership, usage and political and economic power. It also triggered sectarian controversy and led to increasing agrarian discontent and demands for Irish home rule, which, despite some social reforms and economic progress, were left largely unsatisfied toward the end of the 19th century. The famine contributed to the development of separatist movements and

. . .
scouraged a vigorous response to the suffering" of the Irish peasantry (Craig 54). Russell and Trevelyan clung more rigidly to economic orthodoxy than Peel had, despite the growing desperation of the situation which developed in 1847-1849. In August 1846 Trevelyan minuted that "the supply of the home [Irish] market may be safely left to the foresight of private merchants" (O'Neill 222). The results were skyrocketing food prices and acute food shortages. By the fall of 1846, Woodham-Smith said "famine in Ireland had now reached the point where general disorganization was setting in" and "children began to die" (140). In March 1847, she said "fever, on a gigantic scale, was now beginning to ravage Ireland" (187). The government grudgingly expanded its public works program, but reduced its share of its cost from the level set by Peel. Public works were allowed to expand because for the leading Whigs almost anything was preferable to the dole, e.g. free relief for the poor. However, Kinealy said "by the end of 1846 even the most ardent supporters of the public works realised that the system of providing relief in return for labor had failed" (100). Public pressures in Britain and the United States, as well as in Ireland, finally for
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Economic Impacts, Friends Quakers, Ireland Sandy, Edwards Williams, Catholic Ireland, According Woodham-Smith, Antipodes Quinn, Russell Trevelyan, Obstacles Reform, Gaelic League, home rule, irish famine, famine irish, rural ireland, 19th century, irish peasantry, dublin mercier, irish mps, effects famine, roberts rinehart, famine ed cathal, roberts rinehart 1997, cathal poirteir dublin, ed cathal poirteir, poirteir dublin mercier,
Approximate Word count = 4438
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)