Final preparations are being made for the National Famine Commemoration, which will be held at the site of the former Portumna Workhouse tomorrow.
Taoiseach Michael Martin, as well as Minister Patrick O Donovan, will attend the ceremony
The event will begin at 11.15 tomorrow at the Irish Workhouse Centre with a performance from the army band. Minister O Donovan is due to arrive before midday, followed by the Taoiseach, who will deliver a keynote address to attendees, which will be broadcast live on Galway Bay FM.
Following this will be a wide range of music and poetry recitals, which will lead to the official state commemoration, including a plaque unveiling and the planting of a tree by the Taoiseach, assisted by students from St Brendens National School in Portumna.
Opened in 1852, the Portumna workhouse was originally constructed to accommodate 600 people during the famine, and was one of 163 workhouses operating in the country until the 1920s.
These workhouses, or poorhouses, were initially built as a 'last resort' for the destitute poor in Ireland, but quickly became overrun and overcrowded due to the effects of the Great famine.
This is the first time the National Famine Commemoration will be held in County Galway since it was established in 2008.
This will bring to an end a week of events to mark the yearly commemoration of those whose lives were shaped by workhouses, institutions that were a fixture of a dark period in Irish history.
