Irish leader says Great Hunger lessons still shape Ireland at National Famine Commemoration

Irish leader says Great Hunger lessons still shape Ireland at National Famine Commemoration

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the National Famine Commemoration in Portumna, County Galway, that the tragedy’s lessons of compassion, solidarity and humanity still speak to Ireland today.

At the Irish Workhouse Centre in County Galway, the Taoiseach said the Famine memorial is about remembering “an entire society” and the millions whose lives were shattered by the Great Famine.

The 19th annual commemoration took place on Sunday, May 17, at the former workhouse in Portumna, a setting Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Michéal Martin described as deeply fitting for a national remembrance of the disaster that transformed Irish life. The ceremony drew Martin, Minister Patrick O’Donovan and former president Michael D. Higgins among its guests.

Read the full story on Irish Central.

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Photo by Mark Conroy.