Despite missed deadlines and, at times, a severe cash shortage which threatened the project, the Jeanie Johnston, a replica Famine ship, will sail to the US early next year.
Sea trials are planned for Cork Harbour next February and the final fitting-out of the ship is now under way at Fenit, Co Kerry.
Mr Jim Finucane, spokesman for the project, has given The Irish Times a breakdown of what will be the cost of the completed ship. The original projection for the Jeanie Johnston was about £2.8 million, he said, but this overran and the final figure was £5.5 million.
The extra cost was incurred due to the need to comply with strict maritime regulations, such as the provision of an onboard mini-sewage treatment plant, and safety requirements, including the installation of steel-backed fire doors and a steel-framed bulkhead.
Navigation equipment also had to meet international standards and this further added to the costs.
Currency fluctuations, which could not have been foreseen, were another factor in pushing up costs.
Separate to ship-building costs was the expense of creating a new shipyard at Blennerville, near Tralee, from where the original Jeanie Johnston sailed on its final voyage, a visitor centre where the story of the emigrant ship will be told, and offices necessary to co-ordinate the project.
When taken together, these elements, as well as the cost of sailing the ship to America as a major part of Ireland's Millennium celebrations, will bring the bill close to £10 million, Mr Finucane said.
If the sea trials go according to plan, the maiden voyage of the Jeanie Johnston will take place in early March.
Former Tanaiste Mr Dick Spring had supported the concept since it was first mooted five years ago, and the intervention of another Kerry politician, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who helped to secure a £2 million Government grant last June, was instrumental in driving on the project when it appeared to have reached a financial impasse.
The final £1.3 million tranche of this grant is now being drawn down as the finishing touches are put to the vessel.
The 550-tonne replica will be the largest timber-built vessel afloat in Ireland and when it crosses the Atlantic for the first time, there will be a crew of 40 on board, including 11 professional, 12 fee-paying who will make the voyage at a cost of £10,000 each, and trainees from north and south of the Border who worked on the vessel as it took shape.
The cross-Border element of the project attracted funding from the International Fund for Ireland as well as the Ireland Fund, among other sponsors.
It also led to visits to Blennerville by Mr Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, and Mr David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party.
The project brought together skilled shipwrights and trainees from Belfast and Cork and focused attention on the fact that the art of shipbuilding in both cities has all but died out.
While the new Jeanie Johnston is true to the original in almost every design detail, the inclusion of two American-built caterpillar engines, sophisticated communications and other structural safety requirements makes it a modern vessel which should be a spectacular sight as it sails under 1,700 metres of synthetic canvas. The rigging also includes 1,000 metres of rope.
The eight cabins have been designed so that panelling can be removed to create a museum area when the vessel is in port or conference space in which to hold functions, etc.
The vessel will be under the command of Capt Mike Forwood of Cornwall, who has sailed on many other well-known sail training vessels such as the Asgard, Sir Winston Churchill, and Malcolm Miller.
The Jeanie Johnston will visit several American and Canadian cities before returning to Ireland to begin life as a floating museum which will also be used to train crews under sail.
"The presence of the vessel in North America will provide a tangible link with the story of Irish emigration and the contribution made by the Irish to the building of the new world.
"People in Canada and America will be able to see and feel what it was about. Seeing the Jeanie Johnston for themselves will give them a powerful understanding of what emigration meant. And at its home port in Fenit it will serve as a reminder of where the story commenced," says Mr Finucane.