The Jeanie Johnston was a busy ship during the Famine years. Sailing from Blennerville, near Tralee, it carried thousands of people fleeing poverty and hunger, to New York, Baltimore and Quebec. Now it will sail again, or at least a perfect replica will.
Today in Blennerville, the President, Mrs McAleese, will officiate at a keel-laying ceremony, marking the first phase of a £4.4 million project.
In the traditional way, a silver medal will be placed in the bow timbers of the 123 ft, copper-fastened Jeanie Johnston replica.
This exciting project owes much to the good offices of former Tanaiste and Labour Party leader, Mr Dick Spring, a doughty campaigner for tourism-related investment in his home town.
Through his efforts, more than £20 million in EU and local fundraising have gone to projects such as the Siamsa Tire Theatre, Kerry Kingdom Museum, the Tralee Steam Railway and the Tralee Aqua Dome. But the Jeanie Johnston replica is the most ambitious of these initiatives.
The original Kerry barque was built in 1847 - "Black '47" - in Quebec, for the Donovan family of Tralee.
Unlike other "coffin ships" of the era, it had an unblemished safety record, never losing a passenger to disease or the sea during the 16 voyages made from Blennerville.
The replica is being built at a specially-constructed shipyard on a 4.5-acre site adjoining the Blennerville windmill.
The original Jeanie Johnston was built of Quebec oak and Oregon pine, but when the reborn ship sails again it will glide over the water on timbers supplied from Coillte forests in Cork, Cavan, Laois, Westmeath, Monaghan and Wicklow.
While the construction work takes place out of doors, the International Festival of the Sea Committee in Bristol has provided a weather shelter to protect the work from the harsh southwesterlies that sometimes blow in these parts.
But the work will not be shut off from the public as the shelter has high-level galleries, giving views of the project from three sides.
Mr Michael O'Boyle, former manager of the BIM shipyard in Killybegs, Co Donegal, is directing the work.
Experienced shipwrights from Ireland, Britain and New Zealand will assist him. Since the shipwright's skill has almost vanished in Ireland, the project has had to advertise and this has had a small but positive impact on the peace process.
Due to a FAS/International Fund for Ireland-sponsored programme, there will be a new generation of Irish shipwrights. A team of 24 trainees, drawn from both sides of the divide in Belfast as well as from Ballymun in Dublin, and Co Kerry, has undertaken a London City & Guildsapproved boat-building course. This includes six months on-thejob training with the Blennerville Project.
Project secretary Mr John Griffin from Tralee says: "It involves so many different elements: building; shipbuilding; visitor services; training programmes; North/South co-operation; historical research and all the planning associated with a transatlantic voyage."
The voyage to North America will occur next year to commemorate the Famine. On its return to Blennerville in 2000, the Jeanie Johnston will become a floating museum - a heritage site of excellence, say the project organisers, where costumed actors will re-create the life and times of a Famine ship, its crew and passengers.
SDLP leader Mr John Hume says the project is "powerfully poignant, one that can harness the past while offering young people a splendid training experience".
When the replica reaches the other side of the Atlantic, the hope of the Jeanie Johnston Millennium Voyage Committee is that $1.5 million will be raised for the project in the USA and Canada, which will be used to develop further the visitor centre planned for Blennerville.
On this side, support is being provided by FAS; Shannon Development; Tralee Urban District Council and the Elan Pharmaceutical Corporation.
In the Netherlands, the rebuilding of the Dutch East Indiaman - the Batvia - became a magnet for more than 300,000 visitors each year during the construction process. Could the same happen during the peak tourist season in Tralee?
These are good days for Tralee. Last Saturday, Mr Spring opened the Fenit Marina development. Along with the projects already mentioned, the Office of Public Works is restoring the old Tralee Ship Canal, which last handled traffic in the 1950s. Since 1990, visitor numbers to the town have grown from 108,000 annually to more than 500,000 in the last few years.
When the millennium dawns, the numbers should have reached one million per annum.
Linked to the Jeanie Johnston project will be the Irish 19th Century Emigration Research Centre, also planned for Blennerville. It will have computerised listings of the six million plus Irish people who left for America and Canada during a grim period in our history. Together with the Jeanie Johnston project, it may attract more tourists to the Kerry capital.