Question

What more could the government have done to support the Ireland famine ?

Answer 1

Since they viewed it as a great way to 'decrease the surplus population', having a different, more sympathetic outlook would have helped. Giving them food they could cook and eat would also have helped: the Irish had a lot of trouble trying to prepare and eat the Indian meal they sent. They could also have opened more soup kitchens, told the landlords to show a little leniency and stop evicting people because heir livelihoods were gone and their means of paying rent with them. But they wanted to get rid of the Irish, and so they did. There was a famine in the Scottish Highlands in 1846 and because of charitable efforts nowhere near as many people died. They could have saved them by showing charity, but they didn't.