A Tribute on the River Liffey

While taking a walk along the River Liffey in the Ireland, I was fortunate enough to find a tribute to all those who survived, suffered and died during the Great Famine which took place in Ireland and throughout Europe in 1845-1852. The Great Famine or more commonly known as Potato Blight was caused by a fungus that ravaged potato crops throughout Europe. In Ireland, a third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato for food. The lack of the potato crop caused horrific suffering, starvation and death. Ireland’s population fell by more than 20 percent during the feminine. Estimates of a million Irish persons died by disease and mass starvation and another million people emigrated from Ireland out of pure desperation. The fungus that caused the disease of the potato still exists today. Fortunately in 1882 scientists discovered a cure for Phytophthora Infestans. At the time of the famine there was nothing that farmers could do to save their crop.