KILMALLOCK councillor Greg Conway (FG) was one of those involved in the organising of the events of the Famine memorial set to take place this weekend.
Commenting on the honour for the Limerick town, Cllr Conway said that “as a community we were delighted when our local TD and Cabinet Minister, Patrick O’Donovan, announced that the State Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine will take place in Kilmallock”.
“This is the first time that it has ever taken place in Limerick and Kilmallock is a great choice because of the fantastic Famine memorial park and its huge history.”
Limerick City and County Council are hosting the State event “and it is a great honour that Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland, will officiate at this ceremony,” he told the Limerick Post.
The Kilmallock Famine Memorial Park is the graveyard of the old workhouse in the County Limerick town, and it is estimated that thousands of people were buried here.
It is little realised that County Limerick was one of the most affected counties in Ireland during the Great Famine.
The Kilmallock Famine Memorial Park committee started to renovate the park in 1998 with landscaping, new tarmac footpaths, new entrance, and the erection of a new limestone monument in the centre of the park.
Some committee members will be participating in the ceremony this weekend. The park was officially opened in June 1999 by then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.
Kilmallock is busy preparing for the commemoration and a lot of work is being carried out by Kilmallock Historical Society, Kilmallock Tourism, Kilmallock Town Team Development Committee, Kilmallock Writer’s Group, Kilmallock Community Choir, Friar’s Gate Theatre Groups, Callback Theatre in Ardpatrick, Ballyhoura Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and Cllr Conway said a “special thank you to Limerick City and County Council staff, our local area office staff and engineers, Kilmallock Tidy Towns, and our Community Employment Scheme Staff and management”.
“This is some good news for Kilmallock and it should be a very historical day indeed.”
