Taoiseach to commemorate 200th anniversary of major Irish migration to Canada

2,000 Irish people — principally from Doneraile, Mitchelstown, Charleville, and East Limerick — emigrated to Canada in 1825 under the Peter Robinson scheme

An 1809 view of Cork Harbour from Rostellan, Inisbeg Island. Picture: Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Canadian ambassador Dennis King are to pay tribute to a little-known migration of 2,000 Irish people to the North American country 200 years ago.

They will be involved in a series of commemorations which will be attended by up to 500 descendants of impoverished Irish people who left Cobh, Co Cork, in nine ships for a new life in the Canadian wilderness.