metamitya ·
1. **Social Causes and Land Ownership**:
- **Discriminatory Policies**: Under British rule, Irish Catholics were prohibited from entering professions, purchasing land, and were forced to rent small plots from absentee British Protestant landlords, leading to widespread dependency on potatoes for subsistence[1][4].
- **Economic Vulnerability**: The lack of land ownership and control over their own economy left the Irish peasantry without the means to diversify their crops or alleviate their dependency on potatoes[1][4].