Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2017
591. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the various locations and the years in which the national Famine commemoration has been held in since its inception; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46360/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Famine Commemoration was announced by the then Minister of State for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in 2008 at an official reception to complement a community event held in Dublin that day. The inaugural meeting of the National Famine Commemoration Committee was subsequently held in July of that year. Its main tasks were to consider the most appropriate arrangements for future national commemorations of the Great Famine and to organise such commemorations in 2009 and following years.
The first National Famine Commemoration to integrate 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), Glasnevin Cemetery (2016) and this year in Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary.
As I announced recently, the 2018 National Famine Commemoration will take place next May in University College Cork.
