The Jeanie Johnston project has had its detractors but it has prevailed. The replica famine ship will be completed within weeks and before the summer is out, the beautiful timber-built vessel will unfurl its sails and set off for North America like the original did in the 1800s.
At a dinner party in Fenit, Co Kerry, last weekend, one of its greatest supporters, Mr David Irvine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, waxed eloquent about what the project meant for the young people from both sides of the political divide in the North and from both sides of the Border who have worked on it since 1998.
It was, he said, a beacon of hope, epitomising what was possible when people who previously had not understood each other worked together to make something lasting. Speaking to a gathering of friends involved in the project, he said the ship was much more than the sum of its timbers. When the idea of building a replica famine ship was first proposed in 1993, the cost, according to advice from a UK based naval architect, Fred Walker, would be in the region of £4.3 million.
Six years later, when the project began, that was still the working budget for the ship. The group of volunteers who put together the proposal initially had done so in response to the lack of employment and opportunity in the area.
The Jeanie Johnston project, with historic ties to nearby Blennerville from where the original emigrant ship sailed, seemed an ideal torch carrier. It had major tourism potential and would be capable of generating an income.
When sea trials begin within the next fortnight, the final cost of building the ship will come in at £5.8 million. The overall cost of the project, however, will be in the region of £10 million.
What does Kerry and the Irish taxpayer get for that?
A shipyard had to be constructed at Blennerville to build the Jeanie Johnston and while it is now redundant, the land is in the ownership of the Jeanie Johnston Company and in booming Tralee, it is a very valuable asset. It will be sold and the proceeds reinvested in other projects. Blennerville now has a visitor centre which is a permanent asset and a major tourist attraction in the Tralee area.
The Jeanie Johnston will now become a floating museum and Great Famine memorial. It will have a sail-training role and has the potential to become a powerful symbol of reconciliation.