Here is an unflinching look at the causes and results of poverty in Ireland culminating in the great famine of the 1840s. The British control over Ireland expanded with the enactment of the Penal Laws which virtually stripped the Irish of their land over the years. Under the Penal Laws the Irish had to divide inherited land between all sons, thus making farms smaller and smaller through the generations. They could not inherit land owned by Protestants; lease land for more than 31 years; enter the legal profession; hold public office; attend Trinity College; go abroad for education; teach school or even own a horse worth more than $5. Most ended up as tenant farmers paying exorbitant rents to foreign landlords. When the potato famine hit in 1845, the poor could not pay rent and buy food. Over one million died and over one million emigrated or were deported to Australia.
