The Government has been criticised for failing to have a fixed date each year to commemorate the Great Famine when there is one in place to remember Irish people who died in past wars.
Sinn Féin arts spokesman Peadar Tóibín said the annual uncertainty over the commemoration date of the Great Famine was shocking “given it is the biggest event to befall the people of this country”.
The Meath West TD was speaking as he introduced the Famine Memorial Day Bill, which would allow for a set date each year on which to commemorate the 1845-1848 famine.
Mr Tóibín said there had been a commemoration each year since 2008 but with no fixed date. He said the second Sunday of May as the date to “ensure that the date does not swing, as it currently does, from May to September each year”.
And he said it was not yet known when the 2017 famine commemoration would take place.
He said “we have a national day of commemoration in remembrance of the Irish people who died in past wards, which falls on the Sunday nearest to 11th July.
“It is surprising therefore that we do not have a fixed date for the commemoration to honour the victims of the Great Irish Famine and its survivors.”
Human cost
Mr Tóibín said a fixed memorial day was needed to remember the human cost and consequences of neglect, the effects when an economic imperative was prioritised and to recognise the dark shadows of colonial might.
“Most of all a fixed day of remembrance would honour those victims and survivors of the Great Famine and allow us to remember what our ancestors lived through.”
He described the Great Hunger as an Irish tragedy with global significance. Mr Tóibín referred to a plaque in the Mansion House in Dublin honouring the native American Choctaw tribe who contributed to famine victims.
He quoted from the plaque: “Their humanity calls us to remember the millions of human beings throughout our world today who die of hunger and hunger-related illness in a world of plenty.”
Mr Tóibín said there were 800 million such people around the world today. “Let’s fix this day of national commemoration in order that we can remember those who suffer today as those in this country did once.”
