Western Hardship
Congestion, fragmented holdings and poor soil continue to govern the lives of thousands of families throughout western Ireland. In large districts of Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Kerry and western Cork, households depend upon small and scattered plots that cannot reliably support those working them. A family may cultivate several separate strips divided by neighbours’ land, bog or rocky ground, making improvement difficult and wasting valuable time. Similar hardship is familiar in poorer coastal and upland parts of Munster, where limited employment and uncertain harvests leave communities dependent upon fishing, seasonal labour, credit and remittances from relatives abroad.