Was the Great Irish Famine an Act of Genocide?

[former wesleyan]

I'm going for a bag of chips.

Not a spud to be had.

[Hitch 22]

Many landlords evicted thousands of their tenants during the Famine and these people perished from starvation and disease and cold. The British government reaction was utterly abysmal. Trevelyan saw it as divine providence and maintained the laissez faire policy. Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell were far too slow to act. Putting the starving to work in return for food caused added to the massive death toll

But was it an organised genocide? No.

The workhouses and soup kitchens and groups like the Quakers and others tried to keep as many alive as possible. Some landlords were ruined because they used up their wealth to save lives and some actually died of disease while trying to save their tenants.
Others were completely indifferent and paid no heed as their estates went silent.
For others organising ships for emigrants was relatively more humane than the option of having hundreds of thousands more added to the staggering pile of corpses.

Did it confirm to Irish nationalists forever more that Home Rule or a Republic was the only option after direct rule from London failed them? Yes

[Bleu Poppy]

Bang up to date stuff on this forum.

That alleged curriculum stuff dates to 1996- 16 years old on September 16th.

Are they teaching about famines in France, Italy, Sweden, Finland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish...E2%80%931868)?

[ruserious]

Did it confirm to Irish nationalists forever more that Home Rule or a Republic was the only option after direct rule from London failed them? Yes

I wonder how they would view the contemporary republic...

[sponjo]

Absolutely was genocide. We need more monuments to never forget what happened.

[Hitch 22]

Absolutely was genocide. We need more monuments to never forget what happened.

Historical facts do not support the genocide theory. I know of no serious historian who says that the Famine was a genocide.

How many more monuments do you want? There's a famine memorial in every town in Ireland and several in Dublin city.

[Bleu Poppy]

Absolutely was genocide. We need more monuments to never forget what happened.

How many monuments are there already?

And using that as a baseline figure, how many more are needed?

[Ó Donnchadha]

Because the topic has been discussed through the ages, does that give license to mock those who wish to discuss it ? What should be mocked is those who are so superficial that a historical discussion is deemed uncool.

I say it was genocide.

[Lassie]

YES of course it was act of genocide.
It was hardly a birthday invite now was it?

[Schuhart]

But it is now in common agreement that foreign policy of the UK aggrevated the hunger due to the export policies.

Is it? I thought it had been demonstrated that Ireland was a net food importer during the Famine, and that even today famine relief efforts try to keep local food markets in operation as far as they can - as dumping a load of free food on a country can actually make the problem worse, as it destroys any remaining food production capacity.

Where and when did the consensus you speak of come about?