Danger of Kilkenny food shortage raises local concerns

Kilkenny People Archive (1918) - Various responsible authorities with intimate knowledge of the facts have issued grave warnings to the people against the calamitous consequences that are bound to ensue in the period that must intervene before the next harvest if they allow the country to be depleted of its food supplies.

In many parts of Ireland local effort has already resulted in the initiation of a movement whose object is the purchase and storage of sufficient supplies to enable the people in their respective districts to tide over the difficult times
ahead.

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So far nothing has been done in Kilkenny; but at a meeting of the Sinn Fein Executive of North Kilkenny held on Sunday last, Mr Sean Gibbons presiding, the following resolution, proposed by Mr Patrick McDonald, DC, Chairman North Kilkenny Farmers' Association, and seconded by Mr James Brophy, DC, was unanimously passed: "That this Executive, representing the Sinn Fein Clubs of North Kilkenny, taking account of the serious position of the food question and the great danger of famine if immediate practical steps are not taken to conserve for the benefit of the Irish people the food supplies at present in the country, hereby recommends the establishment of committees formed on a co-operative basis in the city of Kilkenny and in the various districts of North Kilkenny, for the purpose of purchasing and storing sufficient foods to supply the wants of the people during the trying crisis before the C country; and that we pledge ourselves to do everything in our power to secure that the farmers in our respective districts will deliver, according to their capacity, to the said co-operation committees, such sup- plies as may be needed in order to avoid a repetition of the appalling national calamity of Black Forty Seven."

Arising out of this resolution, the city Sinn Fein Club held a special meeting on Monday night and, regarding the matter as of paramount importance, considered desirable as the danger was one which equally concerned all classes in the the country, but especially the poorer classes to convene a meeting of those from 21 whom practical support and useful suggestions might be expected, with the view of establishing a Committee whose duty it would be to take stock of the needs of the local community and to provide ways and means of raising such a fund which would be sufficient to purchase and store, before it has been shipped from the country, enough food supplies to guarantee the people against starvation.

It is not a question of charity, but a practical movement on a business-like basis to meet a pressing need and avert a dire calamity.

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