In Ireland we have a saying: 'God sent the potato blight, the English landlords sent the famine.'

The Irish don't call it "The Potato Famine". It is called "An Gorta Mor", "The Great Hunger". Potatoes became the food on which the Irish were made dependent by British policy. The British took the land and the Landlords, usually those who were 'granted' the land by the British, demanded rents from the Irish who lived on and worked the land. Those rents were spent on the luxurious lifestyles of the Landlord class, very often Absentee Landlord families living in England. The potato was introduced as a cheap food for the peasants who had to work the Landlord's estates. Sometimes a Landlord had several estates. All sorts of food stuffs were produced in Ireland but the tenants of the Landlords had to depend for survival on the potato. The tenant was tied to the land and to the Landlord. In Galway City alone during the famine there were 9 mills that sent their product, mostly to England, while people starved.
The famine was well known. News of the famine was widespread. It was not something that the average person in England did not know about. One of the lasting stories of famine relief that shows this to be the case concerns the gift that was sent to help the starving in Ireland that was made in March 1847 by the Chocktaw Nation, who had just themselves suffered the awful "Trail of Teats" and had suffered starvation, and in response to the news from Ireland raised money to offer aid to the people of Ireland. This aid helped to bind a strong connection between the Irish and the Chocktaw Nation that is still evident today.
The "Potato Famine" is a euphemism. The potato was not the culprit. The culprit is well known.

My great-grandfather left Ireland for Canada in the 1840's. His brother left for the United Sates at the same time. They shook hands on the docks and never heard from each other again.

An Irish convict named Patrick Fitzpatrick was sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in January 1848 for stealing potatoes. In some ways this was a blessing for him - certainly preferable to a coffin ship. His granddaughter married a man in 1903 who was himself the great grandson of Mannalargenna, a leader of the indigenous Tasmanians whose extermination was sought to clear the island for capital. The couple were my great-grandparents - two genocides for the price of one! Needless to say, no-one on my family has a fondness for the British Empire.

It wasn't a famine it was genocide.

What is despicable is that the Whigs talked about free trade with Ireland is if it was a mutual level playing field when it was a colonial exploitation situation. What were they thinking?

Irish history in school always told about the genocide of the Irish people but sadly the British were never told about it.

I used to work in the Central Statistics Office in Dublin, and even though many of the 19th century records were destroyed in a fire, we were able to gather Statistical data on the population level of Ireland for the whole of the 19th century. The number of people that actually died of disease and hunger was far higher than these so-called "official" numbers.

The term "irish lanlords" is misleading,  Palmerston , Landsdown, weren't Irish

The origin of the social conditions leading to The Great Hunger was 2 centuries earlier. In 1642, the English Parliament decared over 2 million acres of Irish land forfeit; this policy was extended a decade later to reward Cromwell's soldiers in lieu of pay. By 1656, two-thirds of all land in Ireland was in new ownership. In 1641, the population of Ireland was 1.5 million. By 1656, over 500,00 had lost their lives from famine or disease or violence. (These estimates are from Frank Kitson's book "Old Ironsides"). The landlords during the Hunger were in large part the descendents of soldiers and speculators who took possession of the land in the 17th Century. Some of them did try to ameliorate the worst effects of the blight; some were good landlords before and after. Most were paracites - and the absentee landlords were the worst.

Never in all my days did i think i would see this on English media.

An Gorta Mor as referenced by another comment below was not a blight of the potato it was a scourge of occupation, and policy that lead to millions dead and many more leaving Ireland's shores.

Only thing missing from this is the fact that in clearing Irish forestry, for profit, and in order to make the ships that ruled the empire, they also left a ravaged landscape, another legacy of empire. We are the most deforested country in Europe, and yet Irish beef was still exported for British plates during the famine. We are left with vast acres of grassland, good for cattle to graze on but not much else, and a permantly scarred eco system (that to be fair  successive Irish governments did little to improve either.)

Could probably have been called "How and why Britain Starved Ireland", for even greater impact.

My brethren Michael RIP seen would be grinning his cheeky Irish ☘️ grin and say about bloody time, salute my brother.

Almost every food product was plentiful in Ireland during the famine.  Only two were in short supply - potatoes and pork but everything else was in good supply.  The trouble was that the British grabbed the lot and shipped it off to be sold in UK.

its kinda crazy that to this day "potatoes" are a mildly derogatory meme to joke about the irish

Which makes Priti Patel's comment about using food to squeeze the Irish into Brexit acquiescence all the more insulting and also why Ireland is one of the highest ranking in world food security.

The Potato was of Colombian Origin, when it failed the Irish were denied every other food. Ireland was also deforested to build ships for the Royal Navy

As a British person who sees their country continue to push a fictionalised version of events, it's both depressing and telling. Even the National Trust isn't safe when deciding to portray an accurate version of events.

This isn't about wallowing in guilt, but simply being honest. Nations owe each other that, especially ones who've benefitted from such destruction.