In December 1846, it became clear the public-works policy had failed and the decision was made to provide direct government aid to local soup kitchens. By February 1847, direct provision of food became policy - but this took time to implement, and many died before it was in place.

By June 1848, 834,000 people were dependent on outdoor relief. Within two years, 22 poor law unions were bankrupt and more than 40 were on the brink of collapse. They had to be bailed out with Treasury loans, which were eventually cancelled. The worst of the Famine wasn't over until 1850.

Between 1845 and 1850, it is estimated that the Treasury spent £8.1m on famine relief out of an estimated annual tax revenue of £53m. Was it enough? Should unlimited supplies of free food have been provided from the start? Is this a solution we adopt when we are faced with world famines today, or is the parallel a false one as Ireland was no distant 'foreign' country but part of the United Kingdom?

The historian Christine Kinealy, in A Death-Dealing Famine - the Great Hunger in Ireland (Pluto, 1997), argues that, even compared with how the state had reacted to crises in the 18th century, 'the actions of the British Government in the 1840s could be seen as short-sighted and ineffective'.

The introduction of free food distribution through soup kitchens was at its peak in the summer of 1847, feeding more than three million people. It demonstrated 'the logical and administrative capability of the government to provide relief on a massive and unprecedented scale. This brief episode singularly undermines the notion that the British Government did not possess the means to relieve such a mass of destitution.' What was lacking was the will.

Some officials certainly followed a harsh line, seemingly on principle. Sir Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary at the Treasury and responsible for helping determine Famine Relief policy, published his account of events in The Irish Crisis in 1848. He described the Famine as

His Chief Commissioner in charge of relief operations in Ireland, Sir Randolph Routh, wrote to Trevelyan on 1 April 1846:

Unbelievably cynical or a realistic insight into how the minds of some bureaucrats work? Not all were like this however - Edward Twistleton, Chief Poor Law Commissioner resigned in protest at how little was being done. Moreover, once the failure of the public works programme was acknowledged, free food distribution was eventually introduced.

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