He laid a wreath at the Irish Memorial in Philadelphia, standing beside his wife, Mary, in remembrance on the first day of his visit to the United States on Saturday. Irish ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason (green jacket) and Taoiseach Micheal Martin watch an Irish dancer at the Irish Memorial in Philadelphia (Niall Carson/PA)An estimated one million people died and a further two million people emigrated from Ireland, many to the United States, during the famine from 1845 to 1852. Mr Gessler said the memorial resonates for many nationalities of emigrants in the United States today, who understood the journey of the Irish at that time, leaving a situation which was untenable. Mr Martin responded, commending the memorial telling the story of the humanity of the period, and the different sets of emotions of people who journeyed so far from home. “It’s a wonderful work that captures traumatic journey, but that out of that trauma came generations of optimism towards the foundation of this nation,” he added.

Source: The Herald March 15, 2026 06:45 UTC