l The Great Famine, or an Gorta Mór, saw around one million people die and one million more emigrate from Ireland between 1845 and 1852.
l The primary cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight. One-third of Ireland's population was entirely dependent on the potato for food.
l Fewer than 100,000 came to Scotland, less than elsewhere yet proportionately massive in a country of 2.8 million.
l Those who came to Scotland were among the most destitute of those fleeing the famine.
l Scotland during the famine years had been hit by industrial depression, cholera epidemics and a smaller scale famine in the Highlands. Irish immigrants brought a raft of contagious diseases.
l In 1851, nearly one-fifth of the populations of Glasgow and Dundee had been born in Ireland.
l Between 1845 and 1854, local authorities in Scotland repatriated 47,000 Irish paupers.
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