British Fault
The potato famine was not merely a natural disaster. Under British rule, Ireland was only given very little land to farm on. British ignorance to the situation made matters much worse. At first, Britain believed the situation would be fixed by free enterprise. The Corn Laws, a trade law stating that Ireland was restricted to buying goods only from Britain, was repealed in 1846. Ironically, this did little for the situation. Ireland did not have sufficient money to buy foreign goods. After failure to help, Britain set up soup kitchens in 1847, which eventually failed as well due to an economic crisis in Britain, so they could not be supported financially. The British set up workhouses all around the country. The workhouses were to provide shelter, as well as jobs and wages. Workhouses were meant to hold 1% of the Irish population, but 50% needed help. The ill living conditions, as well as the poor diet caused disease and death to spread throughout the workhouses rapidly. Common Irish belief was that the British were responsible for such a tremendous loss of the population, due to their refusal to take action.