Iirc they imported Corn from the US since it was cheap. But corn is a odd crop, it's difficult to digest especially for the Irish who weren't accustomed to the crop. So it provided minimal nutrition for the Irish.

This was framed as "Look, we give them food and they're still starving! We're wasting money, giving it to the Yanks, all for nothing! This is clearly god punishing the Irish for their sin!"

I don't remember the exact responses by different groups in Parliament, infect Peel was probably wasn't ass harmful as the others.

Although, I think it's funny to know that the British PM at the time was named Peel.