Farmers and land in Ireland

Ireland’s economic history starts at the end of the Ice Age when the first humans arrived there. Agriculture then came around 4500 BC. Iron technology came with the Celts around 350 BC. From the 12th century to the 1970s, most Irish exports went to England.   In 1800 the Irish Parliament and the Parliament of Great Britain each passed an Act of Union which, from 1 January 1801, abolished the Irish legislature and merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.  The country’s biggest landowner, forestry company Coillte, owns more than a million acres of forest together with 11 windfarms, several timber companies and a power plant.

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HISTORY OF IRELAND

THE HATED 164 WORKHOUSES (English systems)

How was life at those workhouses?

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Wat het sowat 150 jaar gelede gebeur?  Wie het die burgers beheer  … ?  Meer as ‘n miljoen is oorlede en ander ge-emigreer – hier is van die nasate in Amerika.

What is commonly known as Ireland’s Great Famine of 1845-1849 was a catastrophic tragedy that has embedded itself in the island’s consciousness. The crop collapse and the political decisions around it decimated the island’s population changing the course of Irish history. World history was also affected by a resultant wave of mass migration that spread Irish culture abroad, particularly to the United States. This documentary aired on the A&E cable channel in 1996. A small portion is missing at the 1:12:58 point (it is marked by a program ID) but the documentary and its information are basically intact and it is well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DK-GoVkRjw

Maer en uitgeteer, gesigsuitdrukkings dra die hartseer en hongerte, hongerte van geen voedsel en hartseer weens sterftes en siektes rondom hulle.  Armoede en Hongerte ‘n daaglikse bestaan.

Dublin 1845-1851

Dublin, Ireland – the Famine Memorial. Let’s travel to Ireland and let’s visit the city of Dublin where we will find the spectacular Famine Memorial. The Famine Memorial sculpture was created by Rowan Gillespie and unveiled in 1997. The sculptures consist of emaciated men and women trudging along the banks of the river, with various expressions of sadness, despair and determination. To really drive the point home, the bronze sculptures also include a starving dog walking behind the people. They are one of the most photographed public art pieces in all of Ireland. This sculpture is a permanent memorial to the many people who emigrated because of Ireland’s Great Famine. It’s built on the departure site of the Perseverance, one of the first famine ships to leave the area in 1846. The ship’s captain was a 74 year old man who quit his office job to transport the starving people from Dublin to America. All passengers arrived safely and the Perseverance was one of the first of thousands of ships to make that epic crossing. Statistics estimate that even now there are more Irish people living outside of Ireland than within its borders, and this haunting piece is a stark reminder of when that emigration began and why.

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The tragedy was occurring by both land and sea as people couldn’t escape one fate or another and to this day, Ireland’s population is still not nearly what it once was prior to 1845.   Between the lack of help from neighboring Britain or landlords, the Irish people were faced to pick the lesser of two evils, of which there really was none.

The potato famine was a dark mark on Ireland, leading to starvation and loss of life in a matter of seven years. The consequences of the famine exacerbated so quickly that it even led to mass emigration, furthering problems of disease, and overcrowding. Travel was something that was also unsafe during this time, only adding fuel to a fire that was already out of control.

Part of the problems due to the famine had to do with Ireland’s government at the time and the lack of help from landlords, leading to economic instability on top of a very real and very serious problem. Poverty and overpopulation were the foundation leading to the brink of Ireland’s disaster, with its roots deep in social and economic issues long before the soil and agriculture had anything to do with the Great Famine.

The balance between Britain’s enablement, landlords, and their tenants was woefully out of balance and this led to tenants living in poverty with their families, unable to afford the cost of living. While families lived in poverty, Ireland’s population kept booming, meaning there were fewer and fewer options for those seeking to make a living for their families and themselves. With landlords requiring more from tenants, the cycle was cruel and harsh and one that not many tenants could escape easily.

https://www.thetravel.com/what-caused-the-potato-famine/

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The Story of Famine Irish emigrants from the Strokestown Park estate of Major Denis Mahon (now home of the National Famine Museum) who were forced to emigrate to Liverpool in 1847. An extended excerpt from the Liverpool Irish documentary by Roger Appleton (Brightmoon Media) and Greg Quiery (Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee) for the Great Famine Voices Roadshow.

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1870 in Ireland – Landwar in Ireland – Evictions of citizens

In the mid-19th century, after years of being ravaged by famine, Irish farmers were being forced out of their own homes. English landlords started evicting tenants across Ireland – but the farmers had had enough. They fought back – and started the Irish Land War.

But the Irish farmers refused to move. They barricaded their homes and organized mobs who, when the police came to kick them out, were ready and willing to fight them off.

Soon, the police started showing up at the farmers’ doorsteps with battering rams, ladders, and even torches. They would smash through walls, tears up rooftops and burn houses to the ground in order to get these people out. They would leave the farmers’ homes in cinders, destroying the very property that they’d come to claim just to make sure that no one could live there at all.

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Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord.  Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms. Nevertheless, the term eviction is the most commonly used in communications between the landlord and tenant. Depending on the jurisdiction involved, before a tenant can be evicted, a landlord must win an eviction lawsuit or prevail in another step in the legal process.

It should be borne in mind that “eviction,” as with “ejectment” and certain other related terms, has precise meanings only in certain historical contexts (e.g., under the English common law of past centuries), or with respect to specific jurisdictions. In present-day practice and procedure, there has come to be a wide variation in the content of these terms from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. One should not assume that all aspects of the discussions below will necessarily apply even in all states or other common law jurisdictions.

The landlord obtains a writ of possession from the court and presents it to a law enforcement officer. The officer posts a notice for the tenant that the officer will return to remove the tenant from the property on a certain day. On that day, the officer may physically remove the tenant and any other people on the property if they are still there. Any possessions of the tenant still on the property may be put in storage for the tenant, or considered abandoned, depending on local laws. The property is then turned over to the landlord.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/irish-land-war

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