In 1997, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair issued an official apology from the British government concerning the “famine”, saying that the administration of the time failed to intervene. (Independent) The mural above asserts that it was not merely a matter of negligence but of will: “With over 1,500,000 deaths sorry is not enough. It is time the British government and its war machine to leave Ireland and her people in peace. During the genocide or 1845 to 1852 the British government seized from Ireland’s producers tens of millions of head of livestock, tens of millions of tons of flour, grain, meat, poultry and dairy products, enough food to sustain 18 million people. 200,000 British troops (100,000 at any given time) and 12,000 RIC removed Ireland’s food at gun point. This mural is dedicated to the men, women and children who died of starvation during the Great Hunger. To call this period in Irish history a famine dishonors the pain and untold suffering our ancestors endured. British warships took the food of our land for profit while our people starved. It was genocide. With this truth told may they rest in peace.” Each white cross on the map represents a mass grave. The map is originally from irishholocaust.org. An in-progress shot from 2010 is included below.

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Camera Settings: f8, 1/500, ISO 400, full size 2688 x 2377