The situation was far worse in Ireland, for a variety of reasons in addition to the population’s uniquely heavy dependency on the potato. Poor relief was not decentralized as it was in Belgium. Moreover, unlike in Scotland, absentee landlords had little direct contact with their tenants and were not bound to them by ties of nationality, nor were they able to call on industrial and financial wealth to underpin any charitable activities. During the crisis, mortality rose in Ireland by a staggering 330 per cent, compared to a more modest but still grim rise of 40 per cent in Flanders.
