As indicated in previous replies to the House, the inception of the National Famine Commemoration was announced by the then Minister of State for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs at an event held in the Custom House in Dublin in 2008. However, the first National Famine Commemoration to include both local input and formal State ceremonials was held in Skibbereen in 2009. Since then, the event has been held annually in a similar dual format in Murrisk (2010), Clones (2011), Drogheda (2012), Kilrush (2013), Strokestown (2014), Newry (2015) and Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin (2016).
While this is the 9th consecutive year, therefore, in which the Great Famine has been marked following the decision made by the Government in 2008 to hold an annual National Famine Commemoration, there have been eight commemorations that included both local input and formal State ceremonials in the period 2009 to 2016, inclusive. The issue, therefore, of whether the current year’s event was the 8th or the 9th annual Famine Commemoration is dependent on whether the initial launch held in 2008 is included in the calculation.
