NI State Papers: Official claimed Blair’s Famine apology warmly received in Ireland

British Government archives from 1997 were released by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)

Tony Blair’s symbolic apology for the Famine received a ‘warm’ reaction in Irish official circles (Julien Behal/PA)

Tony Blair’s symbolic apology for the Famine received a “warm” reaction in Irish official circles, official British archives showed.

The former British prime minister said the people were failed by the Government in London at their hour of need during a disaster which reached its nadir in 1847.