Heritage Partner Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 11, 2015 at 11:48am

It was still the same between the 1930 - 1065 . My father and brother ent to work in England and that was the clear message eve the, No Irish No Blacks No Dogs  . 

Whats changed,,, now its the Muslims of the world , History repeating itsself all over again , Do people or Governments never learn .... 

Not sure that I prescribe to the Gun Laws however !!

Comment by Lonnie on December 11, 2015 at 12:44pm

Thanks for commenting! So much history can teach us.

Comment by michael dunne on January 10, 2016 at 7:49am

Thank you Lonnie for an enjoyable and interesting read. After the Famine of 1847, Britain introduced the Land Commission which identified subsistence farmers through their Baseline Reports. This questionaire identified the neediest and in 1922 Ireland got a loan of thirty million pounds to continue this work. When these Irish farmers were given better land normally under thirty acres it meant being transferred to the less populated and wealthier lands in the east of the country. If you like this was a reversal of British colonizing policies which included the deliberate pauperization of our nation with policies like "to hell or to Connaught" These Congests (removed from the Congested Districts) were resented and I suppose feared by the locals who saw part of these Landed estates being redistributed to "migrants". These people had to take out thirty year mortgages and work hard to make a go of it. They were very successful because of their industry and committment and begrudgingly accepted into their new communities.

It should be remembered that the displacement of thousands of cottier farmers and labourers after the notorious Gregory Clause was seized upon by grasping opportunist Irish land agents and snug farmers by taking their homesteads and five acre farms. This is a case of Irish Catholics ruthlessly exploiting their own. So unlike the US, we dont have an 'e pluribus unum' philosophy. Most of the Irish who went abroad headed for Canada because it was less expensive and also part of the commomwealth. My understanding from accounts of New Brunswick Chamber of Commerce is that the Irish were also seen as a health threat there as in the US. Gross Isle and Ellis Island had similar portfolios regarding emigration and had to protect their interests. The healt hazard posed by these Irish was very serious and had to be contained. the causes can be traced back to the suppression of this race of people over centuries which caused the general malaise. The failed potato could be seen as the trigger.

Today, many Irish people would be glad to be shipped off or commuted to the colonies of Van Diemens Land, New Zealand or Australia. Congrats on your Visa and spare a thought for the youthful jetsam and flotsam of the tiger economy. I have no proof or much to go on, but I have been told the Greeks and the Irish are the two least sought after European citizens for US citizenship. Is this the case and if so where are its origins?

Comment by michael dunne on January 11, 2016 at 5:25am

Just heard an uplifting national radio interview with Bruce Morrison (Morrison Visa's) He was so positive and praising of all those statesmen and women who helped bring the peace to northern and all of Ireland. Great way to start off Monday mornings...thank you Bruce.

Comment by michael dunne on January 14, 2016 at 9:45am

Some quaint questions have been asked from time to time about why for instance did the Irish not eat what they grew? Well the truth is they did, and that was the monocrop of the lumper potato. This was supplemented with buttermilk a very healthy sugar free diet. In those times, most Irish peasants/cottiers rented the two acres annually. In fact it was for 11 months and they were tenants at will, reliant on the good will of the Landlord or his agent. Everything else they raised or grew was on the landlords estate and for the payment of the rents and Anglican church tithes. So with the rare exception of some cured bacon everything else had to be sold to survive on the two acres.

Other questions relate to why we did not eat fish. This can be likened to Marie Antoinette when told the paisans had no bread to give them cake. To be able to fish and have the equipment and the proximity to the sea might make this feasible for the few who knew how to do so.To visualize an exuberant well fed frontiersman chopping down trees, lashing the branches together with readily available waterproof ropes, sail and netting and heading out on his seafaring craft, to return with fish loaded to the gunnels like some character out of Daniel Defoe novel, is the utopian vision of people that just don't get it.

The few Irish peasants that owned some land, had to sign over their homesteads to the keeper of the poor house to gain access. This requirement was under the Gregory quarter acre Clause. Inmates often and anonymously died in these establishments. The land ownership however would have been carefully recorded. Other accounts relate where the father left this poorhouse,  trudging back to this homestead, now no longer his,carrying the surviving children inside to die. His last deed might be to board up the single window to prevent roaming dogs from entering and devouring the children should he be first to pass away. 25% of our anonymous population was lost to this famine; one million through immediate starvation and another million to emigration in the decade that followed. Culturally our greatest loss was our native language and our people. The effects are still being felt today through the chronic emigration of our youth up to the present day. Englands repressive colonizing policies denied the Irish nation the opportunity of becoming her loyal and supportive neighbours.

It has been calculated by economists that while Ireland was always England's food basket, the produce exported would have postponed the famine but not have been sufficient to prevent it

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