The President, Mrs McAleese, was the guest of honour at today’s opening of an Irish Famine Memorial in Battery Park, New York.
The New York Battery City Authority hopes the $5 million memorial park development will help raise awareness of the events surrounding the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852.
Designed by US sculptor Mr Brian Tolle, the memorial is an 1830s Co Mayo stone cottage which has been reconstructed on the waterfront at Battery Park.
The cottage is from the village of Carradoogan, Attymass, six miles from Ballina. It was dismantled by FÁS workers in Attymass in March last year and shipped to the US.
Mr Tom and Mr Chris Slack, from Carradoogan, donated the cottage to the New York municipal authority after it ran an international competition seeking submissions from artists on an appropriate Irish famine memorial.
The official dedication ceremony this morning will be followed by a celebration of Irish music, art and culture. More than 100 Irish and US-based artists will perform during the event.
The President will leave New York this evening and will arrive in Dublin tomorrow morning.