Christopher and Mary Fogarty hits out at how the 1840s starvation in Ireland continues to be described in media and academic circles as a famine. 


People in Co. Louth, alarmed by the sinister direction taken by the government and news media, sent me the Talk of the Town (Nov. 27, 2018) article on the Holocaust[1] (“famine”) mass grave in Killally. That is the same unmarked mass grave that local people brought to my attention some years ago in the hope that my wife and I, on their behalves, would manifest the respect for the Dead and for Truth that they daren’t.



Your article further misinforms readers by reporting; “Famine victims were first buried adjacent to the work house until the demand for burial space increased.” In reality; early in the Holocaust when the death rate swamped all ritual, workhouse governors were ordered to bury their dead within workhouse grounds in twelve foot deep pits into which bodies were piled until filled and a new pit dug. Only when a workhouse grounds were filled did its Guardians[2] acquire nearby land in which to bury the overflow.

Most appalling of all, your article conforms to official policy. The Irish government is unique on Planet Earth in concealing a genocide of its own people. It promotes the “famine” lie with its insinuation of “Irish stupidity.” Ireland’s history professors and teachers dare not utter nor teach the truth lest they lose their jobs. The Marist Brother who taught for half a century in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon was asked in retirement; “Brother; seeing that you now call it genocide; why did you teach us all ‘famine’ in school?” –to which that otherwise deeply conscientious man replied; ”I had no choice; I had to teach the curriculum as provided to me by the government.” He thus falsified history; lied to his students, about a genocide of his, and their, own people, throughout his long career.[3]

A Killally “famine” promoter blocked our truthful, reverent Killally monument, thus also interfering with the livelihood of a conscientious local monument-maker. Other than the names of the perpetrating regiments it would have been identical to the one my wife and I installed over the never-previously-marked Holocaust mass grave in Smarmore, Ardee (see attached photo).

If local respect for Truth and the Dead in Killally’s mass grave is adequate to overcome those still trying to resurrect the old “famine” lie, my wife and I remain willing to install. Above all we hope that local virtue will prevail in this matter of a genocide concealed for the past 170 years, and that the monument installed will honor those murder victims by bearing honest witness on their behalves.

[1] Conditions in Ireland, starting in 1846, were publicly referred to as “Holocaust” repeatedly by the Cork Examiner newspaper, and by Michael Davitt, James Fitzgerald, Rev. Fr. Maguire, et. al. No Irish person of the time ever referred to “genocide” which was coined post WW2 by Raphael Lemkin regarding Nazi crimes against Jews. Regarding Ireland, “famine” has been a lie from the beginning.

[2] My maternal/paternal g.grandfather was a Poor Law Union Guardian n Co. Galway; made so by his landlord desirous of avoiding responsibility.

[3] While researching the life of my paternal grandfather (Kieran Fogarty; 1839-1924) at Britain’s then-Public Record Office in the mid 1980s I discovered that his 40th Regiment of Foot of the British army had, when he was a child, removed the food from South Co. Galway to the Port of Galway for export; thus starving the people. Stunned; having believed it was a famine, I pursued this line to discover that the starvation of Ireland required more than half of the British army to perpetrate; sixty-seven regiments of its total of 130 regiments. This, in addition to the constabulary, county militias and coast guard.

➽Christopher and Mary Fogarty are Chicago based veteran campaigners for justice in Ireland. 

Bearing Honest Witness

Christopher and Mary Fogarty hits out at how the 1840s starvation in Ireland continues to be described in media and academic circles as a famine. 


People in Co. Louth, alarmed by the sinister direction taken by the government and news media, sent me the Talk of the Town (Nov. 27, 2018) article on the Holocaust[1] (“famine”) mass grave in Killally. That is the same unmarked mass grave that local people brought to my attention some years ago in the hope that my wife and I, on their behalves, would manifest the respect for the Dead and for Truth that they daren’t.



Your article further misinforms readers by reporting; “Famine victims were first buried adjacent to the work house until the demand for burial space increased.” In reality; early in the Holocaust when the death rate swamped all ritual, workhouse governors were ordered to bury their dead within workhouse grounds in twelve foot deep pits into which bodies were piled until filled and a new pit dug. Only when a workhouse grounds were filled did its Guardians[2] acquire nearby land in which to bury the overflow.

Most appalling of all, your article conforms to official policy. The Irish government is unique on Planet Earth in concealing a genocide of its own people. It promotes the “famine” lie with its insinuation of “Irish stupidity.” Ireland’s history professors and teachers dare not utter nor teach the truth lest they lose their jobs. The Marist Brother who taught for half a century in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon was asked in retirement; “Brother; seeing that you now call it genocide; why did you teach us all ‘famine’ in school?” –to which that otherwise deeply conscientious man replied; ”I had no choice; I had to teach the curriculum as provided to me by the government.” He thus falsified history; lied to his students, about a genocide of his, and their, own people, throughout his long career.[3]

A Killally “famine” promoter blocked our truthful, reverent Killally monument, thus also interfering with the livelihood of a conscientious local monument-maker. Other than the names of the perpetrating regiments it would have been identical to the one my wife and I installed over the never-previously-marked Holocaust mass grave in Smarmore, Ardee (see attached photo).

If local respect for Truth and the Dead in Killally’s mass grave is adequate to overcome those still trying to resurrect the old “famine” lie, my wife and I remain willing to install. Above all we hope that local virtue will prevail in this matter of a genocide concealed for the past 170 years, and that the monument installed will honor those murder victims by bearing honest witness on their behalves.

[1] Conditions in Ireland, starting in 1846, were publicly referred to as “Holocaust” repeatedly by the Cork Examiner newspaper, and by Michael Davitt, James Fitzgerald, Rev. Fr. Maguire, et. al. No Irish person of the time ever referred to “genocide” which was coined post WW2 by Raphael Lemkin regarding Nazi crimes against Jews. Regarding Ireland, “famine” has been a lie from the beginning.

[2] My maternal/paternal g.grandfather was a Poor Law Union Guardian n Co. Galway; made so by his landlord desirous of avoiding responsibility.

[3] While researching the life of my paternal grandfather (Kieran Fogarty; 1839-1924) at Britain’s then-Public Record Office in the mid 1980s I discovered that his 40th Regiment of Foot of the British army had, when he was a child, removed the food from South Co. Galway to the Port of Galway for export; thus starving the people. Stunned; having believed it was a famine, I pursued this line to discover that the starvation of Ireland required more than half of the British army to perpetrate; sixty-seven regiments of its total of 130 regiments. This, in addition to the constabulary, county militias and coast guard.

➽Christopher and Mary Fogarty are Chicago based veteran campaigners for justice in Ireland. 

3 comments:

  1. Call them holocaust deniers, and leverage the event to argue the Irish should have their own autonomy to prevent it ever happening again?

    It’s not just at the hands of the British Imperialism we suffered either, what percentage knows about the sacking of Baltimore, West Cork at the hand of Islamic Imperialism?

    It would at least be seen as lacking in empathy (or defending racism) if we dismissed another people’s suffering in this way, but it’s seen as progressive to elevate other people’s above your own in the West today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Irish media is controlled by the British Deep State - hence its relentless anti-Irish propaganda. No sane person would describe the late Justin Keating - a senior Irish politician in the 1970s -as a raving republican or a conspiracy theorist; yet he publicly stated in Dail Eireann that the British left many "sleepers" behind in positions of influence after they ostensibly departed. The Workers Party was clearly a British intelligence black operation - proven by the fact that the British security forces in the north facilitated the establishment of a huge WP/Official IRA criminal empire. The Sunday Indo's anti-Irish bias is often on a par with that of 19th century Punch and the Sindo is heavily staffed by WP operatives and their extended families. We live in country where theose who scream loudest about political corruption are the most corrupt of them all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Fogarty's may find the attached podcats on war by stravation to be of interest. https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2018/12/10/new-podcast-starvation-as-a-war-weapon/

    ReplyDelete