Super tuber-day for humble spud

MORE than 220,000 schoolchildren are to be offered 60 tonnes of compost, two tonnes of seed potatoes, 8,000 growing bags and wall charts for “super tuber-day”.

The famine ship, Jeanie Johnston, docked at the IFSC in Dublin, was the inspired venue for the launch of the initiative to mark the United Nations designated International Year of the Potato.

The restored ship with its links to the Great Famine that followed the failure of the potato crop in Ireland more than 160 years ago is a powerful symbol of how the humble spud shines through Irish history, in good times and bad.