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Famine sculpture in Dublin. Shutterstock/Giannis Papanikos

Ireland looks set to get a national commemoration day for the Great Famine

The day put forward is the second Sunday in May every year.

IRELAND IS SET to introduce a national commemoration day to remember the Great Irish Famine.

A bill, set to recognise a formal commemoration date in legislation, was noted by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Heather Humphreys at Cabinet today.

The day put forward is the second Sunday in May every year.

“We have a fixed date to commemorate Easter 1916 and one to commemorate all those who died in other wars on behalf of our county. However, when it comes to what is, perhaps, our country’s greatest tragedy; it is somehow deemed not important enough to be marked by a permanent date in our calendar. This is no longer acceptable,” said Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy who has proposed the bill.

We need a fixed date for a number of reasons. It will allow everyone to work towards the commemoration, on a yearly basis, and allows schools to make it part of the school curriculum.

Over one million people died of hunger and related diseases during the famine, while two million fled the country.

shutterstock_563039725 Shutterstock / Giannis Papanikos Shutterstock / Giannis Papanikos / Giannis Papanikos

Brophy said a permanent date, to which people could plan ahead, would also allow more of the Irish diaspora to visit Ireland and attend the commemoration each year.

“I feel that setting a fixed and permanent date in our diaries to remember and honour all those lost their lives would be a very positive step,” he said.

The bill, due to be discussed in the chamber on Thursday, “will enshrine the remembrance of this heart-breaking era in Irish history into law,” said Brophy.

shutterstock_237233557 Shutterstock / Everett Historical Shutterstock / Everett Historical / Everett Historical

Last month, another national day of commemoration was proposed.

The idea of formally recognising 21 January (the date the first Dáil sat in 1919) as Ireland’s Independence Day was suggested by Fianna Fáil Senator Dr Keith Swanick.

Similar to the day being put forward to mark the Great Famine, it was not proposed the Irish Independence Day would be marked as another public holiday.

While there is government support for a fixed date to mark the Great Famine, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny ruled out the possibility of having an independence day, stating that Ireland already has its own day – on 17 March.

Read: Bones found on Canadian beach came from children on an Irish Famine coffin ship>

Read: World’s first newspaper interview may have been with Irish woman during famine>

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172 Comments
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    Mute David Dickenson
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:04 PM

    Cost of insurance will kill it here.

    117
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    Mute Paddy Byrne
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:29 PM

    It says it has a range of 300km and can hit speeds of 300kmph. . But then the article says you can get to london in just over an hour? I dont get it. Because if you travel at 300kmph you wont make it to london in time before it dies? Because it takes over an hour.

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    Mute Imnotrodten
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:47 PM

    My flying car is an 04 so nobody will quote me

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 3:31 PM

    @Paddy Byrne. Range, flight time and air speed are all different things. If you have a tail wind, you may have an airspeed of 300km/hr but you might cover 350km of ground. Also range is not calculated at maximum airspeed, so if London was 300km away as the crow flies, it still might take over an hour if you are cruising at say, 250km/hr. Lastly, London is 464km from Dublin as the crow flies, so the article is most likely talking about flight time (time in the air) as opposed to journey time but it might be possible for the aircraft to achieve greater range depending on loading and being trimmed for ‘maximum range’. You would have to refer to the performance charts for the aircraft to determine the maximum range (as opposed to specified range).

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:03 PM

    …lolz. Mine’s an ’85 DMC12 so qualifies for classic.. :)

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    Mute Craig Barry
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    Jan 4th 2017, 9:23 AM

    As the crow flies..gotcha

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:20 PM

    Amazon are developing a airship warehouse which will carry a large amount of stock floating in the sky and will deliver via drone. In other words, in the near future, the sky above us will be owned by e-commerce full of buzzing cr4p.

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    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:30 PM

    Considering the carnage on our roads at times..would you really be comfortable with idiots flying above you?

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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:40 PM

    @Kieran OKeeffe: Reduced vertical separation minimum!

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    Mute Cian Martin
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:41 PM

    There’s no way they’ll let actual people have control of these things.

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    Mute Dave Byrne
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:12 PM

    That’s only in play above FL290 or 29000ft

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    Mute John Flood
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:59 PM

    @keiran o keeffe – perhaps using carnage is a bit of hyperbole “deaths” would do fine carnage ˈkɑːnɪdʒ/ noun the killing of a large number of people. “the bombing was timed to cause as much carnage as possible” synonyms:slaughter, massacre, mass murder,mass destruction, butchery, bloodbath,indiscriminate bloodshed, bloodletting,annihilation, destruction, decimation,havoc; 

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    Mute Colleen McGovern
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:09 PM

    Meet George Jetson

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    Mute Gene Parmesan
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:21 PM

    His wife Judy

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    Mute The Girl
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:29 PM

    Daughter, Judy, Jane his wife.

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    Mute alpha_chaarlie
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:02 PM

    You can fly to London in an hour as it is…

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    Mute Desmodromic
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:43 PM

    Dear Santa. I know it’s a bit early…

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    Mute Pius Flynn
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:57 PM

    Don’t know about having a fender bender at 3000 metres

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:22 PM

    “With an expected range of 300km and estimated top speed of up to 300km/h, the Lilium Jet is aiming to make inter-city travel, faster than any widely available mass transit system.

    San Francisco to Palo Alto would take less than 15 minutes, while Dublin to London would take just over an hour.”

    So basically, this thing cannot fly between Dublin and London as the flight time will be longer than the expected battery life on a full charge. That’s a new battery and we all know that our current batteries tend to degrade over time after successive charges.

    In my mind it would need to have a maximum range of at least 1,000 km before it’s of any real value. Why would one invest in this thing when it will probably cost the same as a Cessna 172 but have 1/4 of the range?

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    Mute Patrick Gough
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:07 PM

    electric planes is a stupid idea. But big drones are the future.

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    Mute Tony Canning
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 1:24 PM

    It seems you have a narrow view of what a drone is.

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    Mute Noel Allan
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:29 PM

    Then the Government will put up the first Air50 Toll Bridge, go through our gate before you access the skies.

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    Mute Peter
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 4:31 PM

    I want one.

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    Mute Free comment ratings
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 2:59 PM

    Needed badly.

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 6:19 PM

    Going to buy one for the mother in law

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    Mute Jackson Bollovks
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    Jan 3rd 2017, 1:28 AM

    The question is will it pick me up from the pub?

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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 7:52 PM

    Such a lovely looking mock-up/prototype…sat on a ratty old pallet. Get a grip lads.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jan 2nd 2017, 9:34 PM

    What fuel is it using, though? Does it run on batteries? Is Atomico just a buzz word here? Not liking the hint of radioactivity.

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