February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The significant boost was announced in New York last week by Ireland Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.
A total of $607,000 has been set aside for 11 immigration centers in eight cities and one additional center that is open to Irish students working summer jobs in Maryland.
The funding, which amounts to a 70.5 percent increase over last year’s allocation, is for the fiscal year 2005, which starts this week, Oct. 1.
Details of the new funding were revealed by Cowen at a meeting of the Irish Immigration Working Committee in Manhattan last week. Cowen described the increase as a “practical expression” of the Irish government’s support for the work of the immigration centers. The Irish government, he said, wanted to increase its commitment, not just financially but also through the new “dedicated unit” dealing with emigrant issues based at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
The dollar allocation is the U.S. portion of a