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www.blacktiemagazine.com
Global Irish Famine
Way
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Pictured with a pair of
"Bronze Shoes" are the National U.S. Co-Convenors
for the Global Irish Famine Way:
(LtoR) Hilary
T. Beirne,
Founding Director at Irish America 250
and Co-Founder of the
NYC St. Patrick’s Day Foundation and Professor
Christine Kinealy of
Quinnipiac University, Connecticut
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Establishing
the Global Irish Famine Way
in the United States |
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National Famine Museum at
Strokestown House Co Roscommon |
The National Irish
Famine Way
is
delighted to announce plans for the
expansion of the
Global Irish Famine Way (GIFW) to
the United States in 2026.
To support and coordinate this
expansion, the organization has
appointed two well-known individuals
from the Irish community as national
U.S. Co-Convenors: Professor
Christine Kinealy Irish
Historian and Author of Quinnipiac
University, Connecticut and Hilary
T. Beirne, from Boyle, Co
Roscommon,
Co-Founder
of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Foundation and
Founding Director at Irish
America 250.
The first phase in the United States
will install Bronze Shoes at key
historical sites in Boston and in
New York in 2026. For subsequent
phases, the Co-Convenors would then
invite other community-led efforts
across the United Staes to
participate in the expansion of
Global Irish Famine Way to other
locations. The U.S. Global Irish
Famine Way will join the Global
Irish Famine Way Canada, which was
established in 2025. This initiative
will be especially meaningful to
descendants of the Irish Famine, and
Irish America, as it will feature as
part of the Irish America 250th
commemorations in 2026.
'For many Irish
Americans, the Great Hunger, along
with lesser-known famines, remains
their foundational story for being
in the United States. The National &
Global Irish Famine Way provides a
tangible memorial to the resilience
of those emigrants and exiles who
ultimately triumphed over
adversity', Professor
Kinealy observes.
‘This is a hugely exciting
development for the GIFW. Irish
Famine emigrants made a major
contribution to the United States.
Exile from Ireland because of the
Famine is an intrinsic part of Irish
American heritage and identity.
There are over forty memorials to
the Famine in the United States. The
Bronze Shoes will connect not just
these sites but the story of the
Famine Irish and the ascent of
following generations within
America. It will also connect Irish
America to the global phenomenon of
Famine emigration, from North
America to Australia.’
says former Canadian Ambassador
Eamonn Mc Kee, now co-convenor of
the International Global Irish
Famine Way with Caroilín Callery.
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The iconic brown shoes
installed as part of the National Famine
Way |
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as with the Irish
National Famine Way the Global Irish
Famine Way will be marked by Bronze
Shoe plinths placed at significant
sites, including ports of entry,
quarantine stations, and common
graves. Each site will include a QR
code sharing its local history and
the QR code will be linked to a
dedicated page on the fully bespoke
National & Global Irish Famine Way
website
www.nationalfamineway.ie
The bronze shoes, cast from
originals discovered bound together
in the roof of a 19th-century
cottage, forms the trail’s iconic
symbol “Bronze Shoes.” The
National Famine Museum and National
Famine Way, managed by the Irish
Heritage Trust, stretches 165 km
(102 miles) from west to east across
Ireland along the Royal Canal to
Dublin, marked by 30 pairs of bronze
children’s shoes, and ends at the
iconic
Famine Statues on Custom House Quay.
‘Interest in our
evocative, powerful and deeply
symbolic little Bronze Shoe monument
grew so fast’ says
Caroilín Callery, founder of the
National Famine Way, ‘they
have quickly become symbolic of all
famine emigrants worldwide. People
seemed to connect with them
instantly, often simply touching or
saying a little prayer over them.’
The journey of Strokestown’s 1,490
emigrants—and all famine
emigrants—did not end on Dublin’s
quays, so the expansion of the
Global Irish Famine Way continues
their story, honouring those who
died and celebrates the survival and
the resilience of those who built
new lives abroad. The Global Irish
Famine Way plans to tell the story
of every place around the world
where Irish Famine emigrants landed,
creating new lives so far from their
native land.
Following in the footsteps of
Strokestown’s 1,490, the Global
Irish Famine Way initially expanded
to Canada in 2024 with 15 pairs of
Bronze Shoes in key locations.
The United States is the next natural step as we reach out globally to the
destinations where Irish Famine
refugees arrived between 1845 and
1852. We know hundreds of thousands
fled on the Coffin Ships for
American shores – including many of
Strokestown’s Missing 1,490 whom we
know made their way to the US.
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Picture at the famine
statues at Custom House Quays in Dublin
(LtoR) Hilary Beirne National U.S. Co-Convenor
for the Global Irish Famine Way,
Caroilín Callery founder of the National
Famine Way,
and Dr. Eamonn McKee former Irish Ambassador to Canada. |
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“The famine crossed
the Atlantic in the coffin ships,
and those who arrived in the new
world were deeply scared as a result
of it. The expansion will ensure
acknowledgment of a shared history
that is part of the Irish American
psychic, it is also very much part
of the American story. Many of my
ancestors died in the famine and are
buried in the same graveyard as my
parents in County Roscommon, so I am
proud to help facilitate the
expansion of the famine way into the
United States,” said Hilary
Beirne.
When completed, it will be the
longest heritage trail in the world,
with dedicated local sites reaching
back to a central location, the
National Famine Way trailhead at the
National Famine Museum in
Strokestown, Co Roscommon, Ireland.
As both a physical and digital
heritage trail, the Global Irish
Famine Way aims to create an
international network extending as
far as Australia, telling—for the
first time—the full story of the
global impact and legacy of Irish
Famine emigrants of which the US
plays a key and central part in that
story.
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The pair of shoes found
in a 19th century attic in Ireland used
to create
the “Bronze Shoes “ |
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Details concerning
the Global Famine Way
can be found on
www.nationalfamineway.ie
under the Global Irish Famine Way
section, including Expression of
Interest Form, Brand Guidelines and
Bronze Shoe Specification documents,
as can information for those
interested in doing this evocative
trail.
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Professor Christine
Kinealy
is the founding Director of
Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at
Quinnipiac University in
Connecticut. A graduate of Trinity
College, Dublin, Christine has
researched extensively on Ireland’s
Great Hunger and, more recently, the
Irish Abolition movement. Her
award-winning publications include Charity
and the Great Hunger, The Kindness
of Strangers (2013) and Heroes
of Ireland’s Great Hunger (2020).
In 2017, she received an Emmy for
her role as Historical Adviser to
the documentary Ireland’s Great
Hunger and the Irish Diaspora and,
in 2022, she was named Irish
American of the Year by the Irish
Echo (New York).
Hilary Beirne
is an
Irish-born (Boyle, Co
Roscommon) educator who is well
known for his work on behalf of
Irish Citizens living abroad and the
Irish American community. He is best
known as the
Co-Founder
of the NYC St. Patrick's
Day Foundation, former Chief
Administrative Officer of the NYC
St. Patrick's Day Parade and is a
Founding Director at Irish America
250. Beirne has received numerous
accolades for his work on behalf of
the Ireland, Irish heritage and
culture, including a "New York City
Hero" award in 2023 and the "Irish
Arts & Culture" medal in 2021
from
the Irish Echo Newspaper.
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