How did the Great Famine change landownership in Ireland?

The Great Famine significantly altered landownership in Ireland by facilitating the clearing of smallholders from the land and leading to a greater concentration of property in fewer hands.1

As the famine progressed, the financial burden of providing for the starving peasantry was placed heavily upon Irish landowners. Because the tenant farmers and labourers were unable to pay their rents, landlords—who often lacked the funds to support them—evicted hundreds of thousands of individuals.12

Following these mass evictions, the structure of Irish agriculture shifted. More land than before was repurposed for grazing sheep and cattle to provide animal products for export to Britain, rather than supporting the previous system of small-scale tenant farming.1