Sir, - The significance of the historic statement from the British Prime Minister should be fully understood and appreciated for what it is.
When we as a group began organising the Great Irish Famine Event more than two years ago, we fully realised that the facts of what happened during our nation's darkest days should not be ignored or glossed over. With that in mind we considered various ways to obtain such a statement from the British government. I don't believe that the Tory government would have given this apology, so Mr Blair should be commended. My good friend and Big Issues vendor, Paddy Finnegan, says: "You do not thank someone for an apology, you accept it." I believe that we as a proud nation should now accept the apology and allow it to contribute to the healing process between Ireland and Britain.
We received little or no support or encouragement from the Rainbow Government for what we wanted to achieve by staging this commemoration. We did, however, receive tremendous support and encouragement from Mr Bertie Ahern. As everyone knows, Mr Ahern was the only politician to have the courage to call on the British Government to apologise to the Irish people for what happened 150 years ago.
In staging this event we had three objectives:
1. To commemorate with dignity all those who suffered and died during the Famine.
2. To pay tribute to the indomitable Irish spirit that lived on and spread to every corner of the world. The descendants of those survivors have made the Irish nation worldwide what it is today, strong and proud.
3. To raise funds to help alleviate present-day famine and homelessness and poverty in Ireland. This will be achieved through the work of Gorta and the Big Issues Social Initiative.
We met and received support from presidents, governors, ministers and ambassadors from many countries in the lead-up to this commemoration. But my colleagues and I could not even get an appointment with any of the senior Irish Government Ministers in our struggle to make this commemoration as meaningful as it deserved to be. We had to travel the length and breath of Ireland to pin down various Ministers at their clinics. In all cases we were promised help, but received none.
The amazing and sad thing about it is that we received much more support from other countries such as Denmark, which sent a symbolic famine ship which was moored in Cork Harbour for the commemoration. We are grateful for this wonderful gesture. The US government was particularly helpful, from Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to President Clinton himself and all their staff, who granted all our requests and did not allow protocol or bureaucracy to stand in the way.
Because of the importance of trying to obtain such an historic statement from the British government, we could not speak out until now, as we did not want to jeopardise the possibility of receiving an apology from Britain. The reading of Mr Blair's statement at "The Gathering" in Millstreet lent enormous dignity to the most meaningful Famine commemoration ever witnessed in this country.
More than a million Irish men, women and children, Protestant and Catholic, who died during the famine years were fittingly honoured worldwide and at home. They should not be forgotten, and now never will be. - Yours, etc.,
Editor, the Big Issues magazine & Director "The Great Irish Famine Event", Amiens Street, Dublin 1.