This article is from page 23 of the 2012-04-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
KILRUSH Town Council is to launch its campaign to play host to the National Famine Commemoration in 2013 – a project that has the capacity to bring thousands of extra tourists into West Clare. The local authority is to apply to the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht to play host to the commemoration and in conjunction with Kilrush Local History Group have pledged to organised a weeklong event.
The move was heralded at Thursday night’s monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council, which was attended by members of the Kilrush Historical Society, which since its establishment over the past 14 months has raised new awareness about history in west Clare.
Paddy Waldron of the Local History Group told Thursday’s meeting that Kilrush and West Clare had a compelling case to host the famine commemoration that has been organised by the Government since 2009.
“After the Skibereen, this was one of the worst hit areas. It was also one areas who’s famine history is best documented,” he revealed.
“We have a database of hundreds upon thousands of names of people who were evicted in the West Clare peninsula during the Famine. Those people have descendants all over the world who might like to come back and commemorate their ancestors in Clare. It would be a great opportunity to bring tourists back to West Clare.
“If we publicise it along the lines of the Ireland Gathering Project to try and bring back the descendants of the Irish diaspora to help the tourist industry. It would be good for the town to get national publicity and get national figures to come to the peninsula,” he added.
“It would be great to tie it into the Gathering next year,” said Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch (FG), who revealed that representations have already been made to bring the prestingious event to West Clare. We are in with a fighting chance of getting this. It would spark something. It would really highlight the great work the historical society is doing,” he added.
This year’s Famine Commemoration takes place in Drogheda on May 13, with an international evetn taking place the same day in Boston.