Famine town first to honour victims
Skibbereen in west Cork was one of the country’s worst affected areas during the Famine in the 1840s.
The Skibbereen Union, which covered a vast area from Rosscarbery to Goleen, had an estimated population of 105,000 in the 1840s. At least 28,000 of those people died of hunger between 1845 and 1850, with a further 8,000 forced to emigrate. It is estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 people were buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of the town.