This last link properly points out that it is erroneous to refer to it as a famine, since only the potato crop failed.
This would be why Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized for Britain's role in the Irish Potato Famine, in 1997.
Oh the praties they grow small, over here
Oh the praties they grow small
And way up in Donegal
We eat them skins and all, over here, over here
We eat them skins and all, over here.
Oh I wish that we were geese, night and morn,
Oh I wish that we were geese
Till the hour of our release
When we'd live and die in peace, stuffing corn, stuffing corn
When we' d live and die in peace, stuffing corn.
Oh, they'll grind us into dust, over here
Oh, they'll grind us into dust,
But the Lord in whom we trust
Will return us crumb for crust, over here, over here
Will return us crumb for crust, over here.
A second part of the Irish potato famine concerned the landowners evicting their tenants when their crop failed and the tenants couldn't pay their rent. It was a national scandal and greatly contributed to the death toll. I remember reading a book on this topic but I don't remember the actual number of evictions, but it was high.