"In the case of Ireland" land ownership came to the fore when Ireland was at its weakest
Farming was overwhelmingly a small-farm set-up
The predatory landowners used the opportunity of expanding their holdings at the time of the Famine, when farmers were unable to pay their rents - the end result was that those evicted either died at the side of the road or emigrated
When the landowners were forced to break up their estates, the government ascertained that the land was given to the wealthiest farmers, which led to the Land Wars and the cattle rustling protests
These protests officially ended in 1911, but continued in some areas up to and beyond Independence in 1922
Land seizure was always as much a political ploy - a solution to the "Irish Problem" as it was about land
It was a part of what is still referred to as "The Irish Holocaust"
Jim Carroll