February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews arrived in New York this week with money in his pocket for Irish immigrant aid groups across the U.S.
He also came with a promise of considerably more funding for the groups next year.
Andrews met Tuesday with the Irish Immigration Working Committee in New York and outlined the planned allocation of $253,300 to a dozen organizations in seven cities.
The top recipients are in New York and Boston. In New York, $59,000 will be given to Project Irish Outreach, a division of Catholic Charities. $42,000 will go to the Emerald Isle Immigration Center while the Irish Apostolate of the Diocese Brooklyn/Queens will get $36,000. Irish Aids Outreach is to receive $1,200.
In Boston, $46,000 will go to the Irish Pastoral Center while $40,000 will go to the Irish Immigration Center.
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The other recipients are: The Irish Immigration Pastoral Center in San Francisco, $10,000, and CARA, $7,500; Southern California Irish Network in Los Angeles, $1,500; Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Margate, Fla., $2,400; Federation of Irish American Societies in Philadelphia, $5,200, and Failte in Washington D.C., $2,500.
The total allocation for 1998 equals the dollar amount for last year while the overall contribution of successive Irish governments to U.S. immigrant support groups since 1990 now exceeds $2 million.
Andrews told reporters after the working group meeting that the government planned to increase the grant "considerably" next year.
During his visit, which is primarily focused on the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, Andrews will be meeting with Rep. James Walsh, prime sponsor in the House of Representatives of the bill proposing 50,000 non-immigrant "Transition Visas" for Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Hearings on the visa proposal are planned before the House Immigration Sub-Committee in Washington on Friday.
Andrews, meanwhile, is due to deliver Ireland’s annual address to the General Assembly on Wednesday evening. His speech will include the Irish government’s latest assessment of the peace process in Northern Ireland.