According to the "Encyclopaedia of Ireland" re Ellis Island, "the first immigrant processed was Annie Moore, a 15 year-old from Cork. In 1993, President [of Ireland] Mary Robinson unveiled a statue of Moore at the Ellis island Immigraton Museum". (I must go and see it when I visit NY). I agree with you SRS re the heavy sentimentality of the song.

For anyone interested in (Irish) emigration to Canada and Grosse Ile, the quarantie station in the St. Lawrence, where thousands died of fever: try "Famine Diary" by Gerard Keegan, Wolfhound Press, 1991 (written in 1845, first published 1895). There's some debate about the authenticity of the Diary, but no argument about the facts.