Message from Dick Spring, T.D. Tanaiste & Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Great Famine was a human catastrophe on a staggering scale. One hundred and fifty years later we are still coming to terms with its terrible effect. While scholars may disagree on some matters, few would disagree that it was a defining moment for Ireland and, indeed, for North America. The Famine generated a flood of emigrants, unparalleled in numbers and unmatched in destitution.
Many arrived in vessels such as the Jeanie Johnston. Built in 1847, she operated largely from Kerry and brought countless emigrants on the three thousand mile journey to a a new life and a fresh start. Most were in their mid-twenties, unskilled labourers and servants. Rare among vessels of the time, the Jeanie Johnston never lost a passenger to disease or to the sea.
I welcome the proposal to rebuild the Jeanie Johnston and to sail her once again to her old destinations in the United States and Canada. It is a project which brings us together again. It will provide over 200 jobs during the period of construction. It will bring together young people from the United States, Canada and Ireland, North and South, to work on the construction.
Most of all it will recall in a unique and timeless way the countless thousands of emigrants who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a new beginning. Their achievements and the achievements of their descendents are well known. This project affords us an opportunity to reflect on how it all began.
