Famine commemoration in Laois village sees unveiling of seat and memorial plaque

A seat and plaque commemorating the Famine in the Errill area was unveiled last Wednesday evening as part of Heritage Week.

Peadar Cleary, Chairperson of Errill Tidy Towns, who spearheaded the project, noted the impact of the famine on the local area, saying that the population decline was as high as anywhere else. He noted the high number of evictions locally and the presence of Eamon Holohan from Coolowley who now owns the property on which the last documented eviction took place.

Speaking adjacent to the property which served as the soup kitchen, now owned by Mrs O’Regan, Mr Cleary said that it was fortunate to have two large cast iron soup kitchen pots, which had been used as drinking troughs by farmers over the years. One of the pots has been donated by a local family.

He said that the plaque and seat were the first phase of the project. Phase 2 will see the installation of the pot on the concrete plinth on the village green.

He paid tribute to the Laois Youth Volunteer Scheme which undertook and published a written research project on the famine in the area. The research team was Michelle Bourke, Cathy Galbraith, Jenny Galbraith, Aisling O'Dea and Fiona O'Dea. He also thanked Laois County Council for their help and support.

Professor Emeritus William J. Smyth, who unveiled the seat, noted that one third of the local population had disappeared during the famine through death or emigration. Half of the local children disappeared. Most of them had nobody and were forgotten. One of the missions of famine commemoration is to give memory back, he said.

He stressed that it was not a famine in the sense that there was food, but instead was an gorta mor.
“The potato blight was an ecological disaster. What happened was a political disaster - a failure to act. It was always too little and too late.”

Retired detective Eamon Cleary was instrumental in unearthing much of the history of the local area during the period. He recalled that the famine was not spoken of during the 50s and 60s and very little was handed down verbally on it.

It was only when he undertook some research himself in UCD that he discovered the submission of Sadie Kinahan (Costigan) for the Folklore Commission in 1937. She pinpointed where the soup kitchens were locally and outlined the situation.

The CEO of Laois County Council John Mulholland complimented the committee on their work.
Cllr John King also paid tribute to their work and said that the seat was “a headstone of history.”

Speaking on behalf of the Kinahan family, John Kinahan thanked the committee and said the family were delighted with the part his mother played.

He thanked Eamon Cleary for his excellent work, noting that his mother had never spoken about it outside of her submission to the Folklore Commission.
The evening rounded off with three recitations by local poet Michael Creagh.