WI: the British Govt was responsible

[general]

I have just been re-reading my Irish history, and it occurred to me - what would the relationship between Ireland and Britain be like if the British Govt had acted responsibly during the Potato Famine?
IOTL they refused to do anything.
One Irishman I knew said "God caused the blight, the English caused the Famine."
The stated reason was that they did not want to influence market forces.
Yet one economist of the period wrote in "The Times" that ".. a million dead Irish would not be enough to make the rest work..", while a Treasury mandarin opposed doing anything on the grounds that it would make the Irish expect the Govt to bail them out in any future problems. So while people starved to death, or emigrated, the Govt did nothing. Yet, where the Blight hit in estern Scotland, the Govt provided work programmes so people could earn money to but food.
The Govt response caused great bitterness, so, if the British Govt actually did something, would Ireland still perhaps be part of the U.K?
Ideas?

 

[Cook]

I have just been re-reading my Irish history, and it occurred to me - what would the relationship between Ireland and Britain be like if the British Govt had acted responsibly during the Potato Famine?
IOTL they refused to do anything.
One Irishman I knew said "God caused the blight, the English caused the Famine."
The stated reason was that they did not want to influence market forces.
Yet one economist of the period wrote in "The Times" that ".. a million dead Irish would not be enough to make the rest work..", while a Treasury mandarin opposed doing anything on the grounds that it would make the Irish expect the Govt to bail them out in any future problems. So while people starved to death, or emigrated, the Govt did nothing. Yet, where the Blight hit in estern Scotland, the Govt provided work programmes so people could earn money to but food.

This is not entirely correct.

In 1845 Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel organised the purchase of 100,000 Pounds Stirling of corn and corn meal from America to assist the Irish famine. The shipments started arriving in 1846. (Peel’s brimstone)

Peel then moved to repeal the tariffs on grain to reduce the price of bread.
With the worsening of the famine Peel tried to introduce further measures of relief but was unable to get the support necessary and was forced from office. His successor, Lord Russell proved to be not up to the job.

It’s important to differentiate between incompetence and deliberate malice.

Ok, having said that…

I doubt Ireland would still be part of the United Kingdom, the animosity between Irish and English goes way back, far before the famine. If the famine had been well managed it wouldn’t register on the Irish consciousness but there are plenty of other things to get upset about both before and after the famine. There are people around that would have you believe Oliver Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland happened yesterday.

 

[Sachyriel]

During the Irish Famine there was more immigration to the Americas, right? If there was a responsible reaction there would have been less acceleration of Irish immigration?