The people of Ireland have a natural instinct to try and help countries in poverty, because of the desperate struggle their own people suffered during the ‘Great Famine’ of the mid-1800s.
That is according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who recently congratulated the Irish for their generosity in giving financial aid to countries in crisis around the world.
Ireland, which was named the most generous nation in Europe in 2013, was the subject of a peer-to-peer review carried out by the OECD, and their findings showed that the country has a natural tendency to help those in need.
A spokesman for the OECD said: “The focused approach to hunger is, in particular, a legacy of Ireland’s own history of famine in the 1840s.
“Ireland’s Policy for International Development (2013) provides a sound rationale and basis for making decisions on where to focus Ireland’s official development assistance.
This policy as well as sector strategies help ensure that Irish aid targets poor people and gets to where it is most needed.”
The Famine was the most significant tragedy in Ireland’s history, and left a legacy on the country and its people that is still in evidence today.
A series of failed potato crops led to the deaths of more than a million people in Ireland from starvation and disease. A further million people left their homes for good to seek a better future in countries all over the world such as America and Australia.
The mind-set of the Irish to try and help those in need is directly linked to the country’s own desperate struggle of the ‘Great Famine’ of the mid-1800s.
The Irish government has allocated €600m for foreign aid in 2015, with much of it being sent to help the people of Syria as the country suffers terror attacks and civil war.
The people of Ireland have also been praised in the past for their charitable nature. They were named the ‘most generous nation in Europe’ in 2013 following a survey by the World Giving Index.
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Deserted Village of Achill – victim of the Irish Famine Holocaust