Michael D Higgins has blasted Britain as “xenophobic” for its role in the Famine.
The President also said that Britain of today, who ruled over Ireland during the years of 1845 to 1848, must face up to the fact that the disaster was avoidable.
Mr Higgins slammed the British government for its non-interventionist policy that led to the deaths of more than one million Irish people, and the forced emigration of two million more.
Speaking to mark National Famine Commemoration Day 2021, he said: “The notion that the fundamental defects from which the native Irish suffered were moral rather than financial – was widespread among educated Britons of this era who ascribed serious defects in the Irish national character, including disorder or violence, filth, laziness, and worst of all, a lack of self-reliance, as the cause of the Famine.
“This was unambiguous xenophobic, racial and cultural stereotyping.
“In distancing themselves from the Famine and its consequences, it was suggested, the Irish could be taught to ‘stand on their own feet’, to wean themselves from their dependence on British support.
“All those who speak of it must face up to the uncomfortable truth that the Famine was of course avoidable. In fact, there were numerous interventions that Britain could have made to mitigate its devastating consequences.
“Britain could have prohibited the export of grain from Ireland, especially during the winter of 1846-47 and early in the following spring, when there was little food in the country and before large supplies of foreign grain began to arrive.
“Once there was sufficient food in the country, the government could have taken steps to ensure that this imported food was distributed to those in greatest need.
“A variety of obstacles were placed in the way of relief to those in dire need of food.
“The British government should have been willing to treat the Famine in Ireland as a crisis, an imperial responsibility, and to bear the costs of relief after the summer of 1847.”
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