The $2m project . . . which will be the most comprehensive Irish memorial in Canada . . . is the brainchild of Irish expatriate, Robert Kearns, who has secured a central waterfront location for the park.

"I was inspired by the seven Irish famine sculptures on the Dublin quays, leaving Ireland for a new life, " Kearns told the Sunday Tribune. "What no-one seems to know is that 38,000 Irish immigrants landed at Toronto in the summer of 1847, at a time when the city's own population was only 20,000. It's thought that around 1,100 people died, which is the largest single loss of life in the history of the city. And no-one knows a thing about it."

Determined to build a memorial to this period, Kearns has commissioned the original sculptor of the seven famine figures, Rowan Gillespie, to make five more figures which will be placed at the entrance to the Famine Park in Toronto. "The absence of two people speaks to the loss of life that occurred on the Atlantic, " said Kearns.

The five figures are almost completed and are due to make their historic journey in late February of next year. They will be boarded on the Jeannie Johnson . . . a replica Irish famine ship that was originally constructed in Canada . . . and will sail down the River Liffey in a dramatised reconstruction, before being freighted onward to Canada.

The Famine Park itself will be officially opened on 21 June next year by President Mary McAleese.

It was designed by Robert Kearns' brother, Jonathan, who is aiming to create "a starkly minimal landscape through the predominant use of a single material . . . stone."

To facilitate this, Robert Kearns has arranged for the importation of 300 tons of Irish limestone from Co Kilkenny. "We're going to build a huge wall along one side of the park, inspired by the Cliffs of Moher, " said Kearns. "We want to re-create the wild rocky landscape in the West of Ireland, where Irish farmers could only exist by growing potatoes."