Great Hunger/Irish emigration

The Great Hunger

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A tearful eye beholds both the Great Hunger, which claimed one million lives, and, within the eye itself, the wave of emigration which took more than a million others away from Ireland.

This is one of about nine murals painted in 1995 on the Great Hunger (Visual History). The number “150” appears on the chimney and would last until 2008 and beyond.

There are two side-walls out of frame to the right, going around a corner. The first gives a list of the artists in Irish (“[Dón]al Ó Dalaıḋ, [Cıa]rán [Mac] Taírnan [sic], Brían Ó Lúaın, […]rán Ó hÉır, […]áın Mac Pháıl, [perhaps one more]” (Donal Daly, Ciaran McKernan, Brian O’Loan, […] O’Hare, […] McFall. Daly, McKernan, and O’Loan would paint the History Is Written By The Winners mural in 1996) and the second reads “Dedicated to those who died in the Great Hunger” with a Celtic cross and some knotwork.

There is also a plaque to local man Kieran Doherty, reading “Vol. Kieran Doherty T.D. Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Age 25. Commenced his hunger strike on May 22 and tragically died on Sunday afternoon 2 Aug 1981. Kieran was elected T.D. by the people of Cavan And Monaghan in their support of the prisoners’ campaign for political status.” This plaque would be retained when this wall became a memorial mural to Doherty in 2001.

Slemish Way, Andersonstown, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00156 [T00208]

Weary People, What Reap Ye?

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“Weary people, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger.
What sow ye? human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, hunger–stricken, what see you in the offing?
Stately ships to bear our food away, [amid the stranger’s scoffing].
There’s a proud array of soldiers — what do they round your door?
They guard our masters’ granaries from the thin hands of the poor. – Speranza”

The poetry is the first few lines of The Famine Year by “Speranza”, i.e. Lady Jane Wilde, mother of Oscar.

In the centre an aboriginal figure holds the flags of Ireland and of the Native Australians.

This is one of about nine murals painted in 1995 on the Great Hunger (Visual History).

“Painted by Síle Na Gıg & St James Youth Aug 95” in St James’s Crescent/Donegall Road, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00155 [T00206]

An Gorta Mór

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“Nature sent the potato blight, government & landlords created the famine.” 1845-1849 saw one million Irish people die and a million more emigrate. During the period, the full range of other foodstuffs was produced and shipped to England, being too expensive for the native population.

This is one of about nine murals painted in 1995 on the Great Hunger (Visual History).

Lenadoon Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00158

The Irish Holocaust

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“The Irish holocaust, 1845, 1,397,740 deaths”. A family of four sits with their meagre possessions, perhaps having been evicted from their home or waiting to board a ship to America. The source of the (hyper-precise) number of deaths is unknown; deaths are roughly put at a million and emigrants at two million for the period from 1845 to 1852. The period is commonly known as “the famine” but the term is rejected by many, given the continued production and exportation of other foodstuffs, contrary to the policy enacted for the famine of 1782-1783 (History Ireland | Great Hunger Museum | NJ Schools’ Commission pdf). Hence the use of “holocaust”

This is the earliest mural depicting the Great Hunger; in 1995, for the 150th anniversary, at least nine pieces were painted on the topic in Belfast – see the Visual History page. Many of those pieces reproduced drawings from the Illustrated London News; the source of this image is unknown.

Malcolmson Street/Springfield Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1993 Paddy Duffy
T00170