The Famine? Let Them Eat Smoked Salmon!

national | history and heritage | other press Friday May 04, 2007 13:33 by Dorothy Gale

The Government has decided to commemorate the Famine!

With what?

A State Reception in Iveagh House!

How appropriate for this Government to mark the anniversary of the Great Irish Famine by a Reception in Iveagh House. Let them eat, drink and be merry for today we let others die.

Would it not be more suitable to mark the Famine by a grant of aid to other famine-stricken lands? This Government has never been able to reach the Foreign Aid targets it set itself.

Campaigners have won a four-year battle to force the Government to officially recognise its annual event to commemorate the Famine.

The Cabinet has declined invites since 2003 to a procession in Dublin to mark the 19th-century disaster that decimated the Irish population through deaths and emigration.

However, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has finally agreed to give State support to the May 27th event by holding a State reception afterwards in Iveagh House.