One of the striking moments, and there were many in the two-part series, was the notion of the west of Ireland being a noisy place, full of talk and laughter and music. It was that notion that hit me most that gone were the songs and talk and the chatter. That a quietness had replaced it that to this day has still not been filled. The Famine is the Zero Hour of Ireland’s history. It is where all roads begin and end. It is where the clock of nationhood stops and starts. Like other Year One s or Year Zeros, the outcome was devastating and unlike any other Western nation, our population has never recovered from it.