Only the destitute were meant to avail of the Poor Law system. Conditions were to be as miserable as possible. Families were not allowed to live as a single unit, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters were all assigned different quarters. Parents were admitted to see their children on Sundays only. Despite some problems, conditions at Carrick's workhouse in the early years were reasonable, but workhouses and the Poor Law were hopelessly inadequate to deal with the tragedy of the Famine that was just a few years away.
A succession of "small famines" in the early part of the 19th century had led to crop failures and eventually to what became known as the Great Famine. In 1845 blight caused partial failure to the potato crop in Co. Leitrim. There were shortages of food in the workhouse and towards the end of the year the number of deaths rose significantly. The reaction of the government to the food shortages was to repeal the Corn Laws which led to a fall in the price of home grown crops. Indian corn was imported into the country from the United States. Local Committees were set up to identify the worst hit areas and to allocate relief accordingly. Public work schemes were introduced to give employment. Many of the fine cut-stone public buildings and bridges date from these mid 1840 schemes.
In 1846 the blight re-appeared and there was a complete failure of the potato crop. A change in government saw the end of the relief measures introduced by the previous administration under Robert Peel. This was done so as not to interfere with what the new cabinet felt was the right of the suppliers to a "fair profit." The task of coping with the now worsening situation in the country was in the hands of the Poor Law Unions, local voluntary relief committees and the Society of Friends also known as the Quakers. In November 1846, William Forster of Norwich and James Tuke of York, both Quakers, arrived in Carrick on Shannon. The scenes of poverty and suffering witnessed by them had a profound effect. There were 110 applicants for the workhouse, all destitute for which there were only 30 vacancies. Starvation and disease were everywhere. Forster purchased all the bread available in the town and distributed it. Conditions in the workhouse were deplorable. There was no sanitation and clothing was scarce. Inmates were idle. Suppliers were profiteering. Built to accommodate 800 the workhouse was trying to cope with over one thousand. 170 were in the hospital suffering with typhus and dysentery. Inmates were dying at a rate of 12 per week. There was no bedding and nothing to lie on but straw.
