Saudi aggression in Yemen: Our exports support Arab genocide

Though it is more than 170 years since our Great Famine — an Gorta Mór — began its evisceration, it persists as a powerful presence in our consciousness. That catastrophe, one that need not have been genocidal had government responded humanely, is not a regular feature in public discourse but it remains a brooding ghost nonetheless.

Like the pain endured by a victim of childhood sexual abuse, it festers until adulthood might bring the courage needed to confront the past. In the meantime, it is too painful for the everyday, so is locked away. Two of the ways we try to assuage that legacy are through a personal commitment to confront contemporary famine and through government programmes aimed at minimising that prospect. Last year our government spent €650 million towards that noble goal — hardly enough in our changing, deeply unequal world.