Sporting and cultural organisations around the country are being asked to hold a minute's silence today to remember the victims of the Irish Famine.
It's estimated that up to a million people died while a further 1.8 million people emigrated as a result of the famine in the 1840s.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny will attend a commemoration ceremony at Strokestown Park House in Roscommon at three o'clock this afternoon.
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan:
