On the other hand, the measures established by Peel’s government in order to employed many Irish peasants were continuing to be adopted. Men, women, and even children were employed to improve old roads and build new ones. Many of the workers, who did not have the money to afford proper winter clothes and were malnourished or suffered from various illnesses, fainted and died right on the spot. These people were so poor, especially in the southern counties of the island, that they were buried without coffins (“The Great Hunger”).

In January 1847, since this laissez-faire policy proved to be a complete disaster, the government abandoned it and, under the direction of the Prime Minister Russell, the priority became to keep the people alive. The Soup Kitchen Act of 1847 aimed to provide free food through soup kitchens, which were financed by the taxes collected by local relief committees from Irish landowners and merchants. However, since Ireland was going bankrupt, …show more content…
It caused the death of more than a thousand people, it forced many people to leave the country, and it highlighted the backwardness of Irish society. Industrial underdevelopment and high rates of extreme poverty, which were present in Ireland even before the famine, had created a society highly dependent on the potato. Therefore, when the famine exploded, the Irish population lost its most valuable food. This changed also the habits of Irish people. For example, in 1840 the average marriage age for Irish women was 24 and for men was 27. After the famine, it increased to 29 for women and 33 for men. Moreover, because the areas less affected by the famine were the northern ones, where English-speaker made most of the population, and because most of Irish emigrants came from the Irish-speaking districts, right after the famine the language spoken by the majority of people in Ireland was no longer Irish, but England (Cuìv