What would Ireland be like if the Famine never happened?

dd972

There were 8m plus here at one point in our history, do you think we'd have industrialised and become akin to the Netherlands or Sweden, not so much a question based on 1916 or 1922 events, more based on the sociological and emigration effects of An Gorta Mor.

tdv123

We would have crushed the English in 1916 & the Japanese in 1970 if it wasn't for the blasted famine.

Hedge11

Sure if the subsisting on spuds grown on tiny plots thing wasn't broken, why fix it?

jobeenfitz

The fekn traffic would more hectic.

ted1

Where do the japense fit in?

The island would sink.

Too Tough To Die

I think we'd have taken the potato to the next level.

fergiesfolly

Less American tourists for one thing. A lot less.

policarp

I suppose something like Somalia.
Maybe India Or Pakistan or Uganda
or somewhere else like Afghanistan.
Next year plus 2 we're celebrating
100 Years of something. . .:)

Tom_Cruise

There is a famine every 30 years or so, so we are due one soon.

With the aid of technology we can detect a famine and prepare for it.

BOHtox

If there's one thing Ireland needs it's more famines, can you imagine an Ireland without the famine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhkmOThIySc

TNT2k_

We wouldn't have 90% of America think they have Irish roots because their great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother emigrated there and then they wouldn't believe they're "half Irish" because of it, somehow.

monty_python

policarp wrote: »

I suppose something like Somalia.
Maybe India Or Pakistan or Uganda
or somewhere else like Afghanistan.
Next year plus 2 we're celebrating
100 Years of something. . .:)

thats the worst post ever
i mean **** like

Duggy747

Wouldn't have to be "SSSSSSHHHHHH!!" at by people in the pub while they let a 1000 year old woman sing a depressingly bleak famine song.

"OOOOOooooooh, ware are all da pootatoeeeeeeees, me Daddy cried............."

shy_boy

Simples.... England unfortunatly

policarp

monty_python wrote: »

thats the worst post ever
i mean **** like

Do you mean no famine and unrest?

policarp

monty_python wrote: »

thats the worst post ever
i mean **** like

Sorry.

Cookie_Monster

It'd be full

MadsL

Towns, villages and open countryside instead of bungalows every half mile?

kneemos

Wouldn't have The Corrs.

ted1

There was no famine, it was a great hunger.

We were exporting food.

IM0

15 million people

ShagNastii

They say if the Dutch discovered Ireland it would be the bread basket of the world. If the Irish discovered the Netherlands it'd be flooded.

kneemos

Would land be divided into much smaller and unviable farms than we have today?

IM0

also what was it like in ireland before the famine, compared to europe ?

were the boats irish they went on?, were they built here? how many different boats were there?

and how many american presidents would there never have been!

kennedy
bush
bush the retard
obama
and theyre just ones I can think of off thetop of my head

kneemos

Paddy's day wouldn't be the international event it is today.

Probably about 25 million and mainly Irish speaking.

WanabeOlympian

Probably be more like Netherlands or Denmark and we'd be all Irish speaking but like the dutch and danes be awesome at English too for trade etc..

RossyG

Sinn Fein supporters would be saying, "Those bloody English making us eat all those potatoes until we were sick of them. They wanted us to die from all that cholesterol. It was nothing short of genocide."

Sergeant

Supermacs would be the size of McDonalds, with the Snackbox/Garlic and Cheese Chips combo being the equivalent of the Big Mac meal.

TheFOB

We would have invented Chocolate Taytos a lot earlier.

Turtyturd

We probably would have won the 1966 world cup too....and never tire talking about it.

caustic 1

Bush the retard, laughed out loud at that.

Sleepy

I can't see how a larger population would have helped the Irish language at all...

We'd still likely have a massive diaspora as the Famine was neither the start of, nor the end of, Ireland's economic problems and culture of emigration.

A more densely populated country might be cheaper to run on a per capita basis and wouldn't necessarily have a higher level of unemployment amongst the extra numbers than we currently do. In fact, such numbers might actually make some economic activity viable here that otherwise wouldn't be (due to the increased size of the domestic economy). This could lead to lower taxes AND improved social services: particularly for rural dwellers.

Dublin would be fierce over-crowded though presumably we'd have much higher density housing than we currently enjoy and public transport would have had to have improved in the capital at least.

ScumLord

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

There is a famine every 30 years or so, so we are due one soon.

With the aid of technology we can detect a famine and prepare for it.

Do you mean there's a potato blight outbreak every 30 years? A famine is a lack of food, I don't see any chance of a famine in Ireland now that the political climate has changed.


If Ireland never had the famine we would probably be a relatively unknown backwater right now. It's also probable something else would have happened instead. Ireland was probably very overpopulated back then so a disease could have come along, we wouldn't have been very welcome in other countries carrying diseases.

Tombo2001

Dont mean to be pedantic but the vast majority of the population decline was due to emigration rather than the famine itself, and this took place over a much longer period.

In addition, there were several famines in Ireland. The one in the late 1840s was the most severe one. The last one I believe was in the 1890s.

Ultimately, I'd say the answer to your question is: more people would have emigrated if the famine hadnt happened.

Fratton Fred

Sleepy wrote: »

Dublin would be fierce over-crowded though presumably we'd have much higher density housing than we currently enjoy and public transport would have had to have improved in the capital at least.

Dublin would have loads of shoebox sized over priced but badly built apartments....

I Heart Internet

We'd be the Netherlands of Europe by now.

MickFleetwood

We would be the world's leading superpower, and an economic mastermind of epic proportions.

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Birneybau

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

There is a famine every 30 years or so, so we are due one soon.

With the aid of technology we can detect a famine and prepare for it.

If there's not enough to go around, feeding trolls would be consigned to the good old days of abundance.

MickFleetwood

In all seriousness though, it's virtually impossible to tell. Any number of things could be different, so much so that it's nigh-on impossible to even comprehend.

ScumLord

MickFleetwood wrote: »

In all seriousness though, it's virtually impossible to tell. Any number of things could be different, so much so that it's nigh-on impossible to even comprehend.

That's true but it can be interesting to think about the consequences of events we naturally see as bad.

Even though the famine was a terrible event it presented opportunity and forced a significant number of Irish people into a new land all at once. If the Irish had slowly trickled into the US they might have lost their identity by arriving there in great numbers they could affirm their identity with each other promoting the motherland.

It teaches us that life goes on and whenever something bad happens it can often be an opportunity.

Chinasea

Religion + overpopulation + drink =

Smithy90

we'd have people to fill the ghost estates in longford, maybe even leitrim

Celly Smunt

We'd have built up,like every other sensible country in the world rather than spread like a disease across the island.

major bill

We would have a better football league for starters!!

Bohs couldve been European Champions

Celly Smunt

major bill wrote: »

We would have a better football league for starters!!

Bohs couldve been European Champions

Bleeding bohs,pah! I say pah!

welkin

The Famine wiped out the weak and forced the poor to emigrate.

The people left were only the very strong and rich, making us the nation of Übermensch that we are today.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_djbBpuvECoA/RwLc9IgZVSI/AAAAAAAAAWs/h2cZZI2mDgg/s400/orange%2Btinkers.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7l89LlnXOpif9Aqrf-A9ja_b4bBotv-biWbyNnY1W1IJxuBaq

niallers1

We were huge exporters of food in the 1840's. it was the policy of our government at the time not to interfere or supply food to the hungry as it would have interfered with the free market. So to say it was a famine is not really true. It was more like a genocide.

welkin

niallers1 wrote: »

We were huge exporters of food in the 1840's. it was the policy of our government at the time not to interfere or supply food to the hungry as it would have interfered with the free market. So to say it was a famine is not really true. It was more like a genocide.

Ah Trevelyn imported us some corn from America or India or somewhere to be fair to him!

Celly Smunt

welkin wrote: »

Ah Trevelyn imported us some corn from America or India or somewhere to be fair to him!

Then some bleedlin gob****e robbed it all for himself down in athenry.