Minister Martin announces grants for Irish organizations

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, T.D. announced last week the allocation of grants totaling $2.68 million to 28 organizations in the United States.

Following a series of engagements with frontline Irish community groups in New York, the Minister said, “In my closing address to the recent Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh, I emphasized my firm commitment to achieving a new level of sustained engagement with members of our Diaspora and Irish communities abroad.” The funding is provided under the Emigrant Support Programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Minister also emphasized that supporting Irish communities overseas, and in particular the most vulnerable members of these communities, remains an important priority for the Government.

“We will continue to offer support to all sections of the global Irish," he added. "In addition to the increased economic element to our work arising from the recent Forum, I am determined to ensure that we continue to attach a high priority to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized members of the Irish abroad.”

Also included was a grant of $50,000 for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR). This brings total Government funding to the ILIR since 2006 to $285,000. Speaking after his meeting in New York with representatives of ILIR and the Coalition of Immigration Centers, Minister Martin noted that “the resolution of the situation facing the undocumented Irish, and the early establishment of new arrangements to facilitate legal migration between Ireland and the US remain a priority for me as Minister. The allocation of additional Government support to the ILIR is a further indication of the Government’s firm determination to work with our community in the US to find a long term solution.

“Following a series of meetings on Capitol Hill this week, I am hopeful that progress can be made on the question of immigration reform over the coming period," said Martin. "Although healthcare reform has the political spotlight in the US at the moment, and in spite of the very significant political challenges in progressing immigration legislation, I am in no doubt that there remains a real commitment among many of our friends on Capitol Hill to work for a solution for the undocumented and to establish additional opportunities for legal migration between Ireland and the US.”