Gregory Lauder-Frost

Nevertheless, as Mike says, in most western countries at that time the majority of land was owned by the aristocracy and the Landed Gentry. In Ireland they gave work to the peasantry, built cities, towns, railways, roads, harbours and ports, an patronised the arts and fine educational institutions such as Trinity College. However, possibly because of their religion, the peasantry overpopulated to such a vast degree that when the potato blight hit Europe from Silesia all the way through to Ireland, crunch time arrived.

It is argued by the stupid republicans that the landlords "caused" the famine; in other words that they somehow introduced a bacillus into their own crops which would lead to financial ruin for most of them. Sheer madness to say things like this for an age when there were no chemicals available to protect any crops anywhere.

Just as the poor emigrated from almost every country in Europe so they emigrated from Ireland too, and doubtless to an eventually better quality of life. What on earth would have happened had there been no famine and the population continued to grow to mammoth levels into the 20th century with its agricultural depressions year in year out and the mechanisation of the farms. What then? The landlords have been the scapegoats in this.

After the delightful IRA had their Civil War murdered landlords and their families, torched magnificent houses and destroyed priceless works of art etc., agriculture in Ireland went into steep decline. Where the large landlord has capital, the small farmer has none. Eire's government nevertheless came to an arrangement with successive (hated) British governments to be supplied with subsidised foodstuffs after their independence. It was only in the early years of WWII that it came to the attention of the British Cabinet, that while our people were on severe rations and U-boat sinkings were taking their toll, we were still shipping food to Ireland who was almost openly collaborating with the enemy. It was stopped.

I don't have the latest figures here but Eire was a 100% beneficiary for the first 7 years after it joined the European Union, while at the same time we were donating some £2 billion per annum to the EU. British taxpayer's money again going to a chauvinistic Ireland.

I just wonder when the British people are going to wake up to the way they have been insulted and treated by all and sundry over the past century and start standing up for themselves. A good start would be factual history books for the schoolchildren.