Irish people

WELCOME IN DUBLIN, there you are in the Custom House Qu. I am Luana and today you will learn a lot about the Great Famine which took place in Ireland from 1845 to 1849.

I want you to take a look at these bronze sculptures. Look at their faces. How do you see ? How do you feel ? Could you imagine what they were thinking of at that moment ? Where were they going ?

First of all, what is famine ? By definition : A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality.

Now, I want you to approach that old woman, and listen…

It all started at the beginning of the 17th century when laws were created to restrict OUR rights, WE, irish catholics. Why ? Because of the 1641's rebellion of OUR ancestor as they were afraid of the anti-catholic, a lot of mess happened and it ended now as we have to leave all our land, all our products, literally everything we owned to the Protestant.

Turn around, that old man needs to tell you something…

Fortunately, in 1793, the laws have been reformed but the majority of catholic are poor – we lived in poverty. Later in the 18th century, we can grow some products again on land which don't belong to us but landlord, absentee landlord… Potatoes are cheap and every farmer grow them in their field. I mean people are so dependant of the potato. Surprising, I know !

You need to know, as there's a lack of genetic varibiality, the potato blight is developing now. It's causing the Great Famine, really fast, but potatoes are so cheap and it's the only source of income for farmer like me, and it could grow at anytime during the year, it's such a big deal, isn't it ?

Now, you know about the historical context, but what happened since The Great Famine ? The man with the hat will tell you…

A million of us will die, a million of us will emigrate. You see me walking, I'm walking in the direction of North America, where I place all my hope to have a better life. Rowan Gillespie will sculpt us in 1997, to commemorate the arrival of us, the refugees from the Great Famine.

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