Eötvös József’s book Poverty in Ireland 1837 (Szegénység Irlandban) published by Phaeton is one of the most insightful and sympathetic reports of the horrifying conditions to which millions of Irish had been reduced in the decade before the Famine. József Eötvös visit coincided with a pivotal moment in Irish history, when debate was raging about the introduction of a 'Poor Law' (with Poor Tax to pay for it) – a charitable-sounding term for a cruel Act aimed at clearing the land of people who had no other means of survival. His deeply researched summary of the English occupation of Ireland makes a compelling, often harrowing reading. The book was translated by Paul Sohar and László Bakos, with the foreword of Tamás Magyarics and endorsed by Ambassador István Pálffy.