October 28th, 1846: The poor seek refuge in the newly built workhouses, until now shunned as degrading.
The country has been divided for administrative purposes into 130 Poor Law unions. Edward Twistleton, the chiefs Poor Law commissioner in Ireland, forwards urgent requests from western unions for loans to keep their workhouses open. An assistant commissioner says that, given the state of the country, it is almost impossible to collect any rate or tax in the Connacht unions.
But Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, does not want to deviate from established practice. Adequate rates must be struck and collected at all costs.
Castlebar board of guardians turns 40 applicants away because of lack of funds 90 are refused admission in Cahirciveen due to scarcity of food. The following unions are already in financial difficulties: Ballinrobe, Carrick on Shannon, Castlebar, Mohill, Scarriff, Sligo, Swinford, Tralee and Westport.
Although Swinford poorhouse is full, as many as 200 people a day continue to seek admission or help: "Multitudes of starving men, women and children soliciting with prayers just one meal of food."
The master of the workhouse gets drunk. While considered a bad example to the male paupers, he is related to most members of the board and therefore unlikely to be removed.
Coastguard officers find people apparently dying due to a "total absence of food" in remote western districts such as Killeries, Clifden and Ballinakill. The Inspector General, Sir James Dombrain, deciding that they must not be allowed to starve, allows the free issue of Indian meal on a doctor's certificate.
Sir James distributes 1,663lb in this manner, for which he is rebuked by the Treasury. He had no authority, he is informed, to give meal away free. Instead, he should have called on the leading people in each distressed district to form a relief committee and raise a fund by private subscription, which might be increased by a government donation.
Dombrain points out: "No committee could have been formed. There was no one within many miles who could have contributed one shilling ... The people were actually dying."
The general feeling is one of despair. A commissariat officer in Westport finds the subjection of the masses extraordinary. A large crowd marches to Westport House and asks to see Lord Sligo. When his lordship appears, someone cries "kneel, kneel" and the crowd drops on its knees before him. The Mayo town is described as "a nest of fever and vermin".
In Banagher meal dealers, hungry for money, "buy up whatever comes to market and offer it again in small quantities at a great price which a poor man cannot pay and live".