Pages fly but message lands firmly: President in passionate plea for peace at Limerick ceremony

UACHTARÁN na hÉireann, President Michael D. Higgins, has made a passionate plea “that we all work together for lasting peace and for an end to global hunger and famine”, this Saturday at the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock.

The president was officiating at the ceremony along with Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD.

The formal State ceremony took place at noon this Saturday at the Famine Memorial Park in the town and was televised live on RTÉ News channel.

Attended by special invited guests who were seated in front of a podium in the park, it featured a keynote address by An tUachtarán, who watched a military honours on the main road outside the park before he took his seat at the podium with wife Sabina. 

“No other event in our history can be likened to the Great Famine, either for its immediate, tragic impact, or its legacy of involuntary emigration, cultural loss, increased decline of the Irish language, and demoralisation,” outlined President Higgins.

“As we gather in the Famine Memorial Park within the historic Kilmallock Union Workhouse complex, this is the first time that the State Commemoration has taken place in County Limerick. May I say that it offers a most appropriate backdrop for reflecting on one of the most pivotal and painful chapters of our nation’s history,” he continued.

President Michael D Higgins speaking at the National Famine Commemoration event in Kilmallock this Saturday

Brendan Gleeson pic.twitter.com/EEwbEpzKfu

— Limerick Leader / Limerick Live (@Limerick_Leader) May 17, 2025

There was a light-hearted moment which brought a smile to the president’s face - and guests - when some of his speech pages blew away in the welcome summer breeze as the mercury touched 23 degrees in the south Limerick town. Officials and locals promptly retrieved the pages and the president brought the cruelness of the famine back to the forefront of people’s minds.

“Overcrowding in the workhouses allowed fast transmission of disease. In the final 12 weeks of 1848, 230 people died in the workhouse. Reports from doctors in various parts of Limerick, which were published in the Limerick Chronicle on 21st March 1846, make clear that the people, left with no other food, were, in their extreme hunger, forced to eat diseased and rancid potatoes with calamitous results, including small pox,” he explained. 

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“This is my final Famine Commemoration address as President of Ireland. In memory of all those who died during An Gorta Mór, may I repeat my plea that we all work together for lasting peace and for an end to global hunger and famine,” he concluded, to a standing ovation.

In his address, Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport, and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, Patrick O’Donovan TD said it is "very fitting that the event is being held here in the grounds of Kilmallock Workhouse and next to the graveyard where so many of our forebears who died during this time, were laid to rest in a mass grave, neighbour with neighbour".

 “The Famine has shaped our country, our towns, communities and our landscapes. But it has also shaped us as a people; we are defined as a nation for our spirit of empathy, generosity and compassion- especially to all those who are suffering from hunger, disease and poverty today. The people of Gaza, Sudan, areas of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali; we stand with these communities. This is the only way that we can truly honour the victims of the past,” continued Mr O'Donovan. 

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran said that it is “incredibly important” that we carry with us this act of remembrance, “which is a promise to carry compassion forward as we shape our future”. 

“It also gives us a chance to reflect on how far we have travelled as a county and as a nation since, along with how far we have to go. The Commemoration is a reminder that across the globe, many families still suffer from Famine. We as a global community need to continue to act.”

 A wreath-laying ceremony took place in remembrance of all those who died during the Famine.  In addition to the President and Minister O’Donovan, a wreath was also laid by His Excellency, The Most Reverend Luis Mariano Montemayor, Apostolic Nuncio, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

Music at the event was provided by local musicians Liam Flanagan, Seán Ó Fearghail and Ciara Flanagan while pupils from Scoil Mocheallóg primary school in Kilmallock performed the poem Threnody by Flann O’Connor.

Pupils from Coláiste Iósaef secondary school in Kilmallock read a letter from Dr Morgan David O’Connell to the Kilmallock Board of Guardians dating from 1847.