Parliamentary Report (Distress Ireland), Treasury Minute and First Report of the Relief Commissioners, 1847

What is inside?

The First Report of the Relief Commissioners, published in 1847, marks the beginning of a new temporary relief system to help deal with the growing distress and starvation in Ireland. The report is preceded by a Treasury Minute which is entirely focused on the needs and ways to reduce the ballooning numbers of those employed on the Relief Works in Ireland. According to the minute the numbers of destitute was growing by 20,000 per week and that having to accommodate so many in the Relief Works was problematic in a number of ways. Much of the early part of the actual report of the Commissioners themselves is made up with details of implementing the new relief scheme in Ireland and how exactly is will differ from the previous attempts to alleviate the suffering and starvation of large numbers of the people of Ireland. The Commissioners also note that in some cases efforts to implement change have been hampered by local inspectors falling ill to fever, caught in the discharge of their duties. The Appendices of the report also make for very interesting reading. The ultimate aim of the new relief scheme is laid out in Appendix B, which states that the burden of effort must fall upon the local committees and that improvement of the "social system" was the long term goal. The remainder of the appendices lists the rules and regulations for the Finance Committees and Relief Committees as well as sample copies of the many necessary forms. This is followed by listings of the Inspecting Officers for each of the unions in every county. The appendices are completed with various circulars. For anyone with an interest in official government policy in to the handling of the famine in Ireland this is a must read. Not only does it include descriptions of the practical steps taken on the ground to alleviate the dire suffering of so many but it also encapsulates government belief that in the long term only the people of Ireland can save themselves.

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