In the past two centuries no event has shaped the Ireland of today more than the Great Hunger/Famine of 1845 - 1852. No event stirs the emotions of Irish people more. No other event demonstrates so clearly the failure of British colonial policy in Ireland.

The great hunger/famine was the direct result of colonial policies that began with the destruction of Gaelic Ireland in the period 1540 to 1603.

This was followed by the Cromwellian settlement of the 1650's, the military defeat of Catholic Ireland in the 1690's, and the subsequent imposition of Penal Laws for the suppression of the Gaelic people of Ireland. After three hundred years of conquest and destruction, millions  of Irish people were reduced to destitution, poverty, illiteracy, and were made dependent on the potato by  British government policy and landlord greed.

John Mitchell in his famous writing “The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps)” describes the…