Special ceremony in New York to mark expansion of Ireland's Global Famine Way

Ireland will celebrate the expansion of its Global Famine Way with the unveiling of a special monument in the US this weekend. The first set of bronze shoes, fitted as part of a special famine memorial, will be unveiled on Staten Island in New York on Sunday. The memorial - just metres from the Staten Island ferry dock at Hyatt and Park Place - will commemorate the thousands of Irish emigrants who left their homes because of hunger and poverty in the 19th Century. The famine memorial on Staten Island It is the first element of a global expansion of the famine way. The national famine way is a unique 165km waymarked walking and cycling trail in Ireland. It was developed to honour the 1,490 men, women and children who walked from Strokestown in Roscommon to Dublin in 1847 before being compelled to emigrate to Canada via Liverpool. The global famine way aims to mirror the journey of Irish emigrants across the world - as they arrived in foreign countries to build new lives. A symbolic pair of bronze children's shoes will mark special way points on the global famine way. Immersive content will be available via digital links at every global famine waypoint - allowing people to hear the audio and video stories of those forced to leave Ireland. Irish-American campaigner Hilary Beirne, who is a key organiser of the annual St Patrick's Day parade in New York each year, will attend the Staten Island ceremony which is expected to attract a large crowd. The memorial on Staten Island Between 1.5 million and 2 million people fled Ireland for North America between 1845 and 1855 due to the failure of the potato crop. The majority went to New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia - though the Irish diaspora eventually encompassed all parts of the US and North America. Today, over 33 million people living in the US claim Irish ancestry. Of the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 terror attacks at the World Trade Centre in New York, around 1,000 identified as having Irish-American heritage, one-in-three of all victims. The story of Irish migrants forms a key element of the museum on Ellis Island in New York harbour - just across the channel from Staten Island - which was once the busiest immigration and processing station in the US.