Famine replica ship voyage cancelled

A planned voyage to Boston for a famine replica ship being constructed in New Ross, Co Wexford, has been cancelled because of funding difficulties.

It is still hoped, however, that construction of the Dunbrody will resume and it can become a permanent tourist attraction.

A second consultancy report on the future of the project has been completed, and a decision is expected from the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources in the next few weeks.

The 176 ft wooden replica of a Famine emigrant ship which left Ireland in the 1840s was initially due to sail from New Ross to Boston in March last year.

The launch was deferred when the project, which is being overseen by the John F. Kennedy Trust, ran short of funds. It has cost £3 million to date in EU, State and other funding. A consultancy report presented to the Cabinet last year estimated it would cost a further £1.7 million in State support to complete the project.

A further study was ordered by the Government, and a final report is now with the Department.

Mr Sean Reidy, chief executive of the JFK Trust, said yesterday the planned voyage to Boston would not take place.

A Department spokesman said the cost of continuing construction would be examined, based on the study before it.

The Minister of State at the Department, Mr Hugh Byrne, represents the Wexford constituency and is known to be a supporter of the project.

Construction work on the vessel stopped six months ago, but work has continued on maintenance and the development of one of its main features, a high-tech "Spirit of Ireland" interpretative exhibition including a computer database on Irish immigration to the US from 1820 onwards.

The project is already a major tourist attraction. The hull of the vessel was completed last year, and more than 80,000 people have visited the site, a reinstated dry dock in New Ross, since it was opened to the public in June 1997.

The intention had been that the ship would be a major tourist attraction on the quays of New Ross but would also, in off-peak periods, sail to locations around the world promoting Ireland as a tourism destination.

The original Dunbrody was built in Quebec in 1845 for the prosperous Graves family of New Ross. It had a crew of 14 and was capable of carrying 176 passengers.