By Tom Gillespie

THE publication by the Connaught Telegraph, from which the day to day Famine reportage was taken, has been dedicated to the journalists who chronicled the Great Hunger.

Minister Kenny said he was delighted to be asked to launch Michael Mullen's latest book, The Darkest Years, which deals with the Famine and its effects in County Mayo.

Minister Kenny stated: "Mayo, as you probably are aware, was the county most effected by the Famine. We are all too familiar with the phrase "Mayo, God Help Us".

"But the Famine is nothing for us to be ashamed of. It is part of our history, and a harsh reminder of how a people can be reduced to squalor and death by a Famine.

"It has been concluded that in no other Famine in the world was the proportion of people that died as large as in the Irish Famine of the 1840s.

"The Famine caused untold suffering among our forefathers and released a stream of emigration that changed the face of Ireland. "In Mayo the Famine, and its repercussions, will forever be etched in the haunting, yet beautiful landscape of our county.

"We are fortunate in that a number of reputable scholars have provided us with an immense amount of material on the Famine, thereby re-asserting its role in modern Irish history.

"Michael Mullen's book is another contribution to that wealth of material."

Minister Kenny said in the opening pages he paints a picture of life in Castlebar in the 1830s, shortly before the Famine struck. The Castlebar of the pre-famine years was a densely populated, but relatively happy place.

He quotes the writer Inglis as saying that the town had one good street and that there was a good demand for work. Inglis also noted that he could purchase as much poteen as he wanted for 3s and 4d per gallon!

"It's probably a little more difficult - but not impossible I'm told - to procure it today!" he joked.

TERRIBLE STENCH

"Several persons, residents of Castlebar, have informed us that while digging potatoes on their gardens, they encountered a terrible stench, which after examination, the found to proceed from the putrid state of the esculents they were in the act of unearthing ..should this fearful malady spread among the crops of the rural population, dreadful indeed, must be the consequences to the poor..."

The Minister added: "And dreadful they were. Michael Mullen goes on to recount the devastation and death that stalked the land for the next few years.

"People began to kill and eat everything in sight - horses, donkeys, anything they could get their hands on in order to eat their flesh to survive. With hunger and death came fever, with many dying of typhus and other diseases.

"Westport , which heretofore had been lauded for its beauty, was now ridiculed for its filth.

"The hunger continued until the early 50s when the potato blight passed, there was a level of Government intervention, and high emigration all helped to reduce the rate of death. But the toll had been huge. Two million Irish people had disappeared - one million had died from starvation and disease, and another one million had emigrated.

"Things had improved by 1853, the year that gas-light arrived in Castlebar. With the gas light, as Michael Mullin points out, came hope. There was some positive effects from this scourge. For example, our President, Mary Robinson, a Mao woman herself, described the Famine as follows:

"The events which, more than any other, shaped us as a people. It defined our will to survive. It defined our sense of human vulnerability. It remains one of the strongest, most poignant links of memory and feeling that connects us to our Diaspora. It involves us still in an act of remembrance which increasingly, is neither tribal or narrow".

Minister Kenny said he was particularly pleased last year when my colleague, Minister of State Avril Doyle, who has responsibility for the Famine Commemoration, travelled to Co. Mayo to announce that the National Famine Memorial is to be located under Croagh Patrick and which will be unveiled in July.

John Behan's Coffin Ship was an appropriate piece of sculpture to commemorate the Famine and would be an everlasting reminder to us and the generations that come after us of the darkest chapter in modern Irish history.

In her address , Minister Doyle quoted another Mayo man, the author and journalist John Healy, who pointed out the contribution made by those who were forced to emigrate, but send home money and parcels to help those at home.

FAMINE CLASSIC

"I would like to pay tribute to the author Michael Mullen on the publication of this, his twenty-fifth book, which must be a record for a Mayo man! Many of you will have read his previous books including "The Hungry Land" which is regarded a classic on the Famine era.

"Writing a book takes a great deal of time and personal dedication and Michael deserves our appreciation for his detailed research. I strongly recommend that you now purchase this book and read it."

Dr John F. Connolly, managing director, Connaught Telegraph welcomed the Minister on behalf of the Connaught Telegraph and author Michael Mullen He praised the production by Mr. Mullen and teamwork between Mr. Mullen, an eminent author and the production staff of the Connaught Telegraph, a publication which had been serving the public since 1828. Dr. Connolly stated: "The Famine was one of the most important event in our history and the echoes of that sad event can still be seen in our culture and society.

"Trends set in the Famine, particularly emigration, continue to damage our society bearing in mind that the population of Mayo prior to the Famine was approximately 390,000 compared to 111,000 now, a decrease of 72%

"It is sad that the Irish Famine should ever have happened as the massive number of deaths could have been avoided. It is sadder still to thing that in this day and age when the world has so many resources and so many other facilities to deal with catastrophes that famines still happen regularly throughout the world.

"We must all work together to ensure that they do not continue to happen and perhaps this will be done through the publication of this book by Mr. Mullen and such tragedies avoided may be avoided in the future."

Author Michael Mullen said it was a labour of love in tackling this book. It began when he began to research the Famine period from the files of the Connaught Telegraph for articles he prepared last year. These in turn developed into the "The Darkest Years"

He thanked the Minister for his attendance and all those at the Connaught Telegraph who had made the publication possible, particularly, production manager, Johnny Jordan.

He also thanked his wife Deirdre for her assistance and loyalty and all those who attended the launch and photographer Frank Dolan for the excellent Famine ridges cover picture for the book.