Government to recognise famine event

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

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.

Minister of State at the Department Conor Lenihan will represent the Government and guests at the event, at which the US and Australian ambassadors will attend.

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The Tallaght-based Committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims has been lobbying TDs and organisations on the issue for the past four years.

Every year up to 50 committee members and supporters dress in peasant clothes in the annual procession from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to the Famine Sculptures on Custom House Quay.

PA