Famine in Kilrush: An Inquiry

December 1849, Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. A Reporter has been despatched to investigate reports of distress and starvation. It is the period now known as The Great Irish Famine. There is no food, no shelter and the Board of Guardians, charged with relieving distress, have run out of money. The reporter interviews paupers, the Landlord, Reverend Osborne, the Poor Law Inspector and the Parish Priest. He also attends a harrowing inquest on the body of a child, found dead.

This dramatisation is based on contemporary records. By way of brief illustration of the effects of the Great Irish Famine, Kilrush in 1841 had a population of 5,071. It has never exceeded 2,800 in the intervening years.