THE Great Irish Famine Event, which will take place next June, was launched at a ceremony in the US ambassador's residence in Phoenix Park yesterday. The event will be both a wake for those who died and, through the music of Irish artists, a celebration of the success achieved among those forced to emigrate.
It has been adopted by the Government as the closing event of the official Famine commemoration.
The event will entail the symbolic reenactment of walks along many hunger roads converging on a reconstructed village in Millstreet, Co Cork.
An anticipated 100,000 people, including the descendants of many emigrants, will gather on June 1st, 1997, to take part in this commemoration.
Mr Ger Egan, chief executive of the Great Irish Famine Event, said it would benefit homeless people in Ireland and hungry people in the developing world. Funds pledged through the event will go towards the Big Issues Social Initiative.
This programme will provide emergency accommodation aimed at assisting homeless people in their transition to independent living and, through its Enterprise Initiative, employment for up to 1,500 people. Part of the fund will be channelled into projects to assist in the relief of world hunger.
The US ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, said that during the past year she had had the honour of attending a number of events relating to the Famine. She commended the Irish people who, having learned from the suffering of their ancestors, had dedicated themselves to assisting the hungry, the homeless and the impoverished around the world.
The Minister of State, Ms Avril Doyle, stressed that the commemoration must be more than a gesture to the past. That was why the Government's Famine commemoration programme included support for a number of Third World charities. "Nor should we forget our own people. There are many homeless Irish at home and abroad."
The Great Famine had been one of the greatest tragedies in modern Irish history, she said. A million people had died and more than another million were forced to emigrate. Many of those who died were buried in unmarked paupers' graves.
Donal Lunny said artists would come together in Millstreet to perform a work which he will compose, while actor Gabriel Byrne said he was giving the event his full support.