SNIPPET: The Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park, NYC, was opened July 16, 2002, by dignitaries to include President Mary McALEESE of Ireland and Mayor Michael BLOOMBERG. A focal point at the site was a famine cottage from Mayo dating back to 1820 which had been dismantled and shipped to America and rebuilt stone by stone. At the dedication of the Famine Memorial were Chris and Tom SLACK from the townland of Carrodoogan, Attymass, near Ballina, who donated the family cottage in which they were brought up. A sloping field had been created on an elevated site overlooking the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with NJ in the background. The field was planted with grasses, reeds, tiny wildflowers, heathers imported from Connemara and the land "corregated" to portray grassed-over furrows of a potato field. Hundreds of Irish-Americans were present for the emotional ceremony in addition to those who traveled from Attymass and the Bofield Band. Presiden! t McALEESE asked those in attendance to not only remember the tragedy of the Irish famine but to dedicate themselves to eradicating the present-day scourge of hunger. Those attending the opening included NY Governor George E. PATAKI, whose maternal grandmother came from Co. Louth. Members of the Irish Repertory Theatre gave readings. The memorial was later closed for a time for alterations and reopened June 1, 2003. .