Leitrim's agony

Having returned recently from a holiday in Leitrim where I experienced the hospitality of the inimitable people of that county I was delighted to find a book of local interest for me to review.

The subject is, however, harrowing and tragic. This book is another of the growing number of local histories of an Gorta Mór. Long-neglected sources have been dug up and are organised to present a detailed picture of many aspects of the calamity. Leitrim was one of the most underdeveloped and deprived parts of Ireland before the Great Hunger. It sufferred a terrible fate and between 1841 and 1851 its population fell from 155,297 to 111,915, through death by starvation and disease and emigration. The decline continued long after that of course and recent figures show Leitrim and Longford being the only counties in the 26 which are still experiencing a fall in population (Leitrim today has a population of just over 25,000).

Often forgotten in accounts of this period are the many people who were condemned to transportation to New South Wales for the most trivial of offences. For example, we read here of James Gilmartin who, for the `crime' of stealing meal to feed himself and his family, was banished to Australia for seven years. While Gilmartin was in jail in May 1847 awaiting transportation, accounts show that Lord Leitrim, who owned large tracts of the county, was spending £130 on a trip to London. This was more than the total subscribed to many relief funds.

The book shows the contempt the mostly absentee landlords had for the people, the corruption of the degrading Poor Law system, the despicable nature of the huxters and gombeen men who actually profited from the tragedy, and the callousness of the laissez faire economics dictated from London and Dublin Castle.

Leitrim people and those of Leitrim descent everywhere will be especially interested in the lists of names of emigrants. Also fascinating for anyone with a local connection are the statistics for depopulation which are listed by townland. Thus I was able to find that the population of the little townland where I stayed during my holiday fell from 77 in 1841 to 64 in 1851. There would hardly be 10 people living there now.

Both the author and the publishers are to be commended for this book and it is of value not only to Leitrim people but to all with an interest in this period of our history.

BY MICHEAL MacDONNCHA