Ireland | South East Technological University (SETU), in collaboration with the global justice organization Afri (Action from Ireland), recently hosted its 11th annual Féile na Beatha festival. The commemoration brought together first-year social care students, local community groups, and representatives from the Delta Centre Carlow to honor those who lost their lives during the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór). Centered on the university campus—which sits on the historical grounds of the Carlow Union Workhouse—the festival used local history to foster dialog around ongoing global themes of systemic injustice, displacement, and collective social responsibility.A cornerstone of the event was a reflective commemorative walk to the nearby Famine Graveyard, the final resting place of more than 3,000 Famine victims. Led by Padraig Dooley, former President of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society, the ceremony included a reading of the names of young girls forcibly sent from Carlow and Laois to British colonies under the 19th-century ‘Earl Grey Scheme.’ To cement this remembrance, attendees participated in a tree-planting ceremony and viewed a collaborative photographic exhibition facilitated by local artist Jim Donnelly, highlighting the shared historical resilience connecting past hardships to modern social care practices.
Source: South East Technological University
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