The graceful curves of the hull, 120-ft-long, have taken shape; the decking is about to be laid down, and the spectacular tall ship, Dunbrody, is on course for a Christmas launch.
When the great, timber sailing ship heads west into the Atlantic next year, aiming to retrace the route of the Famine emigrant ships, it will be the culmination of a two-year, £3 million project carried out at the port of New Ross, Co Wexford.
Apart from her modern mechanical and electrical systems, the vessel will be a faithful reconstruction of a 19th-century ship that operated out of New Ross and carried thousands of emigrants to the US and Canada.
The Dunbrody project was conceived by the JFK Trust, a company formed to advance the cultural, economic and environmental development of New Ross.
Drawing on the Kennedy family connection with the town, the aim is to sail the Dunbrody into Boston on May 29th next year, the birthday of the late President John F Kennedy.
Since the massive keel was laid in March of last year, 30,000 visitors have come from all parts to watch the traditional skills of 19th-century ship building being exercised again.
Some 30 FAS trainees, men and women, have carried out the bulk of the work under the supervision of an international team of experienced shipwrights headed by Dunmore East, Co Waterford, man, Michael Kennedy.
To top up a £1.6m European Regional Fund grant towards the project, the JFK Trust has had to mount an ongoing drive to secure financial support locally and abroad. A professional fund-raising team in the US is now getting into gear, says Trust chairman, Paddy Quinn.
The build-up has already begun for the majestic entry of the ship under full sail into Boston and also down the St Lawrence River to Quebec.
After its maiden voyage, the Dunbrody will return to New Ross, where it will be a major tourist attraction on the quays, with a sophisticated interpretative exhibition, including a computer database on Irish immigration in the US from 1820 onwards.
It will maintain its sea-going potential. Although it is modelled closely on traditional lines, the most modern safety features are being built in.
The 458-tonne ship, whose masts will be 130 feet, will also have radar there have been discussions on how to camouflage such equipment so as to keep the traditional sailing ship profile.
The vessel will even be painted with imitation gunports, as was done with most such vessels of the last century in order to deter potential attackers.
The FAS trainees have absorbed a range of craft skills during their association with the project, and some are now carrying out shipwright's work. The two-tonne timber rudder, 15in thick and 20ft deep, is now being assembled. The spars are being trimmed to shape using a huge mechanical ship's saw that was salvaged from the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast.
As she approaches completion, the wonder is that such an impressive vessel is being constructed by a team totalling no more than 35 people.
In the Quebec boatyard where the original Dunbrody was built in 1845 for the prosperous Graves family of New Ross, the workforce would have been about 800-1,000 skilled men.