Minute's silence to be held for Famine victims

IIMII · 15-05-2009 09:45AM #1

Irish Times, CHARLIE TAYLOR

Fri, May 15, 2009

A minute’s silence will be observed at venues throughout the country over the weekend in rememberance of those who died during the Great Famine.

Schools across Ireland will fall silent later today in the first of a series of events leading up to Sunday’s annual memorial day for those who perished during the Great Hunger.

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren are expected to take part in the minute's silence which takes place at noon in memory of the 1.5 million who perished or emigrated from Ireland and those who continue to suffer from famine.

All public and sporting events have also been asked to observe a minute’s silence on Sunday, now dedicated as National Famine Memorial Day.

The National Famine Memorial Day was announced by the Government earlier this year after a long campaign for recognition by lobby groups such as the Dublin-based Committee For The Commemoration Of Irish Famine Victims.

On Sunday a ceremony is taking place in O’Donovan Rossa Park in Skibbereen, Co Cork, one of the areas worst affected by the catastrophic failure of the potato crop in the 1840s.

The event will culminate in a State flag and wreath-laying at Abbeystrewery Cemetery where 8,000 to 10,000 Famine victims are buried in a mass grave.

Last week, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív represented the Government at the unveiling of a plaque at Grosse Ile near Quebec City in Canada in memory of the 7,000 Irish men, women, and children who are buried there.

Grosse Ile was a quarantine station during the Famine which became known as L’Ile des Irlandais — the Island of the Irish.

© 2009 irishtimes.com

Wreck · 15-05-2009 09:47AM

What a waste of a minute. Nearly as bad as the time I wasted reading and replying to this thread.

Schism · 15-05-2009 09:49AM

Sounds very American.

OldGoat · 15-05-2009 10:12AM

The Great Famine, The Great Hunger.

The Great Peckish
The Great I got the munchies
The Great I could murder a bag o'chips

I think Alexander wants his name back.

ScumLord · 15-05-2009 10:15AM

I don't remember anyone who died during the famine, what am I supposed to do?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 15-05-2009 10:15AM

I am erect and attentive.

phasers · 15-05-2009 10:15AM

I've never understood why a minute of not talking is a mark of respect. Everyone involved is just thinking "Has is been a minute yet?"

O'Coonassa · 15-05-2009 10:18AM

So the nation most strongly in favour of the CAP, that helps 20,000 people a day starve to death, is going to have a minutes silence for the spud shortage. The irony is priceless.

phasers · 15-05-2009 10:24AM

O'Coonassa wrote: »

So the nation most strongly in favour of the CAP, that helps 20,000 people a day starve to death, is going to have a minutes silence for the spud shortage. The irony is priceless.

No it isn't.

Fratton Fred · 15-05-2009 10:26AM

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

WindSock · 15-05-2009 10:28AM

Can't we have a minutes fast instead?

Who the hell has rememberences for things that happened generations ago? WW1 fair enough but anything before then is a bit naff.

mike65 · 15-05-2009 10:29AM

So this is to mark the 162nd anniversary of Black '47?

Indie18 · 15-05-2009 11:05AM

Captain Mords Spiced Bum wrote: »

I am erect and attentive.

I didn't know the famine was a sexual fantasy for some people, each to their own I suppose.

Mr.Lizard · 15-05-2009 11:09AM

They've only themselves to blame. "I mean, if it was just the potatoes that were affected, at the end of the day, you're will pay the price if you're a fussy eater."

Nodin · 15-05-2009 11:10AM

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is.....saving your sorry arses.:D

Not everything is about you, you know.....

Riamfada · 15-05-2009 11:13AM

This thread is making me really hungry

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 15-05-2009 11:13AM

not everything no, but 99.8% of everything easily.

The british invented clouds.

phasers · 15-05-2009 11:14AM

I just had the best toasted cheese sandwich EVER!

Fratton Fred · 15-05-2009 11:15AM

Nodin wrote: »

Not everything is about you, you know.....

arsebiscuits

Indie18 · 15-05-2009 11:17AM

and yet another AH thread gone down he pan.

Elliemental · 15-05-2009 11:18AM

I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation. And on top of that, there was the lacklustre (to say the least), response from the British. The death toll should never have been to high, especially after all the warning signs.
Surely something must be done to remember the victims.

TheInquisitor · 15-05-2009 11:19AM

Saying it was a spud shortage is just low o ' coonassa. A million people die and thats what you write it off as? At the same time that the famine was happening there were record exports of cereal crops etc from ireland to england. The main reason for teh potato blight and teh following famine was a strike by the potato checkers union in ireland over higher wages . This led to blight spreading everywhere. Unions were no good then and they are no good now!!

Snickers Man · 15-05-2009 11:20AM

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

Well that's true. They haven't caused a million people to starve and the population to halve yet. We had to be an integral part of the world's largest empire for that to happen.

So it would be difficult indeed for FF (or any other Irish party for that matter) to be as murderously incompetent as HM Government.

Having said which I think this minute's silence is a crock. After all these years. I hate any "event" or "commemoration" that encourages all to accept a standard viewpoint of an historical episode.

I know they'll say "Oh no. There is considerable room for interpretation" but really this is all about embracing a shorthand view of the time with no concern for the subtleties of the period.

It's a bit like those jerks who think we should all wear poppies. I will shun them for the same reason. (And that's all I'm going to say on THAT before November comes round again)

Fratton Fred · 15-05-2009 11:24AM

Snickers Man wrote: »

Well that's true. They haven't caused a million people to starve and the population to halve yet. We had to be an integral part of the world's largest empire for that to happen.

So it would be difficult indeed for FF (or any other Irish party for that matter) to be as murderously incompetent as HM Government.

Yet is the missing word I believe

Anyway, what are you doin here? you're far too intellectual for AH

antodeco · 15-05-2009 11:25AM

Could they not have just gone to mcdonalds or something. Or just have eaten something else?

O'Coonassa · 15-05-2009 11:29AM

TheInquisitor wrote: »

Saying it was a spud shortage is just low o ' coonassa. A million people die and thats what you write it off as? At the same time that the famine was happening there were record exports of cereal crops etc from ireland to england.

Sure like I say 20,000 starving to death every day. At the exact same time people are starving to death in the third world their cash crops are being exported to your local supermarket and they don't even get a fair price for them on account of the CAP and import tarriffs. Exactly the same story as An Gorta Mór only now we're the Brits. Yiz feckers :P

IIMII · 15-05-2009 11:29AM

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The trouble is, you guys keep forgetting someting very very important.

No matter how much Fianna Fail screw you over, no matter what a mess they have made of this country, no matter how many times they have been caught with their fingers in the till and lined their own pockets at the tax payers expense, it was much worse under british rule and therefore you should be eternally grateful to Fianna fail for saving your sorry arses.:D

Look in the mirror lately? That's some expenses scam (all of) your lot are running in your own parliament

Fratton Fred · 15-05-2009 11:31AM

IIMII wrote: »

Look in the mirror lately? That's some expenses scam (all of) your lot are running in your own parliament

Amateurs compared to TD tbh.:D

Nodin · 15-05-2009 11:34AM

Elliemental wrote: »

I realise a minutes silence is a bit tacky, and hardly original. However, it feels wrong to not mark the Famine. I mean, on an Island as small as this one, the deaths of almost 2 million people would've been utter devastation. And on top of that, there was the lacklustre (to say the least), response from the British. The death toll should never have been to high, especially after all the warning signs.
Surely something must be done to remember the victims.

Apart from that, it might give some pause for thought the next time they see suffering elsewhere and hear someone saying its nothing to do with them.

Acacia · 15-05-2009 11:34AM

Didn't Tony Blair apologize for the Famine or something?

Anyway, I suppose this is a nice idea, but as this thread has shown, the politics surrounding the whole thing will probably be given more importance, rather than the anonymous victims who were buried in mass graves.

Hopefully it might raise a bit of awareness/support for famine victims outside Ireland too.

dlofnep · 15-05-2009 11:36AM

What a bunch of childish, attention-whores. "Oh, look at me.. I'm not going to pay my respects to the greatest loss of life in the history of the Island because I'm just brilliant!"

Just pay your respects, shut your mouth and then when the minute is up, you can go back to searching for porn and the telescene copy of Star Trek.

Minute's silence to be held for Famine victims

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