Famine in Ballingarry, South Tipperary by Fr Philip Fitzgerald.



Report by Fr Philip Fitzgerald, Catholic Curate to the National Repeal Association in Dublin published in Tipperary Free Press on 8 May 1847.

‘… Speaking of adults, the deaths at ordinary times would average ten each month, though since last October [1846] the increase was constant it was comparatively slow until February [1847] when they amounted to about twice this number. After this when those on the public works were attacked with dysentery – the effects of cold and want – the mortality amongst them became much greater. But at the present time, that to this wasting and widespread disease, fever, unusually malignant and fatal is superadded, the deaths far exceed anything remembered by the oldest persons living. If anyone entertain a doubt of what I have stated, the scenes of wretchedness and desolation which every where meet the eye, will soon convince him of the truth – funerals passing and re-passing in every direction – the congregations on Sunday reduced by half – the churchyards like fields lately tilled, without a green spot, constantly visited by processions of a few gaunt figures, carrying with difficulty the remains of some more fortunate relative or friend, themselves not less pale and ghastly, and scarce sufficient in strength and numbers to make the grave. From the sad effects of this calamity all classes have suffered severely, but most of all those on the public works, and especially the old and decrepit of both sexes, who were exposed without food or clothing to the piercing cold of winter. Indeed almost all of these are dead. Being secretary to the late committee of the district, I had a good opportunity of witnessing the dreadful effects of the system under the labour act on these poor creatures, and could at this moment, refer to the cases of many who attended the committees for weeks before they could be admitted on the books, and when admitted died a few days after, having scarcely time to earn for themselves the price of a coffin. But to know the accumulation of misery that presses them to the earth, it is not sufficient to witness the pale cheek and the haggard look, nor the emaciated and squalid appearance of these persons. No, - ‘There is that within which passeth show.’

To have a thorough knowledge of their wretchedness you must enter into their cabin, and observe the condition in which they live. Here indeed with collieries worked amongst us, the poor, were better circumstanced than in many other places, their employment and consequently their resources were greater. Accordingly the houses were neatly furnished, and if without ornament they contained at least the accommodation necessary for daily use. Now the interior presents a different spectacle, for there is nothing to be found there but the bare walls – neither tables, nor chairs, nor bed – all are either pawned or sold; so that it is easier to imagine than describe how human creatures can live within them. How is it possible to endure such a state of things for any length of time is to me inconceivable; but of this I am certain that no stable could afford a worse lodging and that the beasts of the field are better housed and fed than the people generally through the collieries.

           During the last three months I have often attended whole families of whom some were dead and others dying, stretched on the damp ground with hardly as much straw as covered where they lay, having neither food or drink besides cold water to allay the burning heat of sickness longer – they are pest houses of contagion and famine, and more receptacles of the dead than dwelling places of the living. That such persons could at all think of cultivation is what no reasonable being could expect. Their holdings indeed are very small, but in them there is not sown even a cabbage plant, nor is there amongst them the smallest preparation making for the next year to prevent the recurrence of a similar calamity.

           On yesterday, all, without exception, were dismissed from the public works and over one thousand more cast upon the world without one pennyworth to live on, as the new committee has not as yet done anything – not distributed a single ration to the starved multitude who have been for weeks waiting on them. This is not indeed the fault of the committee, but of the obstacles thrown in their way and the annoyances to which they are subjected. So that I greatly fear that the past, bad as it has been, is only the beginning of sorrows – for let there be another week of the same kind and we must have heaps of unburied dead. This district will be one vast grave yard, and afford a most beautiful illustration of the blessed effects of political economy.’