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Date Posted: 08:08:17 09/03/02 Tue
Author: news item
Subject: A Clan Warrior

O’DOHERTY CLANN NEWSLETTER ITEM (1998)

REMEMBERING THE GREAT HUNGER

An O’Dochartaigh, Fionnbarra, our clan newspaper editor since 1988, over this past 3 years has been the honorary secretary and press officer of the North-West Great Hunger Memorials Committee. The group was established immediately after human remains were unearthed, at an unmarked cemetery, within the confines of the Union Workhouse in Derry.

After a heated battle of words these remains were given a proper re-burial, within 11 mass-graves, at Ballyoan Cemetery, during a service attended by representatives of the four leading Christian denominations – a rare alliance in these troubled times. Property developers previously began to ‘dispose’ of the ‘first batch’ (60), in sealed, blue plastic bags. This soon stopped after our editor was ‘tipped-off’ about these covert activities, and took two colleagues along to the cemetery, near the Workhouse, where they witnessed this initial operation for themselves. Within the hour Fionnbarra was on air at the studios of Radio Foyle, and his protests on-air attracted wide attention, particularly within the print media, and much public sympathy, right across the community.

July 17th will witness the dedication and official opening of a Famine Memorial Garden, build over these mass-graves, thanks only to the efforts of the Derry-based group. A central stone will mark a final resting place of around 400 ‘paupers’. These Irish people perished in the 1840s, as did millions of others who couldn’t afford the fare to board the ‘coffin-ships’. Historians have long since proven that tons of food, were collected, guarded and daily exported. Such actions had the backing of the London authorities. The Committee feels that for telling it as it really was, many behind-the-scenes opponents are busy at work. So as to frustrate them, and fitting commemorate this human catastrophe, Fionnbarra and colleagues are urgently appealing for support.

To-date they have delivered presentations to the Mayor of Sligo and leading civic officials, in addition to addressing Derry City Council, the Culture Committee of Donegal County Council, and more recently Strabane District Council. Omagh and Bundoran Urban District Councils are due to issue similar invitations in the near furure.

Any reader who wishes to learn more of these efforts, or place their name on the Patrons’ List, can phone, or fax our World HQ. The Patrons are headed by three bishops, only one of whom is Roman Catholic, which goes to show how the Great Hunger – unlike other periods of Irish history – can have a unifying effect across the ‘sectarian divide’. What appears here is only part of the saga, as other memorials are planned. Watch this space.

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