Irish Potato Starvation - a brief history with one cited source.

Between 1845 and 1852, about 1 million people in Ireland starved to death, and 1.6 million Irish emigrated to the United States. This time in Irish history is referred to as "The Great Starvation". (Known too many as "The Great Potato Famine".) Many farmers in Ireland were at a "poor" status before the Great Starvation. Much of the land in Ireland was broken up into two parts. One for cash crops which usually utilized the best soils, and one …

…Great Starvation because they could receive it at a very low rate. As long as they were going through the blight, the goods that were being exported would be at an all time low rate. Plus, as long as Irish people were emigrating into the U.S. their population was growing. With the growing population they could feed to the economic boom, and they had more people doing jobs that other people wouldn't normally do.