When we think of the Irish emigration story we generally start with the Famine in the 1840s - but the first assisted emigration programme dates back to the 1820s.
It was called The Peter Robinson Experiment and this year marks its 200th anniversary – Amanda Slattery, a development manager with Ballyhoura Development CLG, tells Oliver Callan more above.
In the early 19th century, the British government came up with a plan to fund assisted emigration programmes for Irish people who were desperate - the carrot on the stick for those selected being land ownership opportunities.
Peter Robinson was selected to lead one of the earliest expeditions - he came to Ireland to help select up to 2000 people to relocate and settle in the Ottawa valley in Upper Canada.
The programme was advertised in the north Cork region – it stated categorically that only a limited number of Settlers would be chosen to emigrate to Upper Canada. In the 3 weeks leading up to the 1825 sailings, there was 50,000 applications for just 2000 places.
Later this year, Cork will welcome the Canadian-Irish descendents of those that sailed to an event remembering the Peter Robinson settlers of the Ballyhoura region.
Listen to more from Oliver Callan here.
