Famine ceremony for Murrisk

Call for famine ceremony to be held in Murrisk


Anton McNulty

A CALL has been made for the second national commemoration of the Great Famine – which is due to take place in Mayo in 2010 – to be hosted in Murrisk, where the National Famine Monument is located.
Last week, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuív TD, announced that the first annual memorial day for the Great Famine will take place on May 17. Communities around the Republic are being encouraged to hold commemorations and sporting organisations are being asked to observe a minute’s silence on National Famine Memorial Day.
Minister Ó Cuív also announced that the national commemoration will take place at Skibbereen, in Cork and the 2010 commemoration is due to take place in Mayo. Each province is to host the event in turn with the 2010 held in Connacht, and the 2011 event taking place in Ulster.
A spokesperson for the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs told The Mayo News that the location of the 2010 commemoration in Mayo has not yet been selected and they will only decide on a setting after the 2009 commemoration in Skibbereen is completed.
Mr Johnny Groden, the Chairman of the Murrisk Development Association – which headed up the campaign several years ago to have the National Famine Monument located in Murrisk – told The Mayo News that he felt the national commemoration should be held in Murrisk in 2010.
“I have not heard too much about the national commemoration in 2010 but I feel if it is to be in Mayo, it should take place in Murrisk. We would assume that any commemoration to the famine in Mayo would take place where the National Famine Monument is situated. We have not been contacted about it but I feel that Murrisk would be the best place for it,” he explained.
The National Famine Monument is situated close to the Croagh Patrick Visitor Centre and was unveiled by the then President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, in 1997. The sculpture by John Behan depicts a ‘Coffin Ship’ with skeletal bodies and commemorates the Great Famine of the 1840s, when the population declined from eight million to four million.
As well as commemoration ceremonies in Ireland, Minister Ó Cuív said that a ‘parallel international event’ will be held in Canada on May 10.