Friend or Foe: The Impact of the Potato on Irish History

The potato is synonymous with the biggest disaster in Irish history – the Great Famine of the 1840s when nearly one million people died and another million emigrated. However this is only part of the story of the potato in Irish history.  The arrival of the potato in Ireland transformed the island and resulted in changes in how people lived their lives and what the landscape looked like. It even led to changes in the peoples' appearance. In the podcast I examine the good, the bad and the ugly of...