THE IRISH GOVERNMENT has committed €500,000 for a revamp of New York’s GAA stadium.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin made the announcement today during his trip to the Big Apple for St Patrick’s Day, which he said was a sign of the Government’s commitment to the overseas development of Gaelic games.

Located in the Bronx, Gaelic Park has been a home for Gaelic games in New York City since 1926.

Martin said it’s “at the heart of the Irish community” in New York, with the GAA club having been established in 1914.

The funding is being made available through the Government’s Emigrant Support Programme.

It’s a new two-story, 12,000 square foot facility costing $6.2 million. GAA headquarters in Croke Park have put up $2 million, with the new €500,000 contribution from the Irish government aimed at enabling the project to meet its projected completion date of March 2024.

Upon completion, the redevelopment in Gaelic Park will include a fully furbished function room, catering facilities, medical office, two development offices and downstairs changing rooms.

The announcement was made by Martin at a meeting in New York today with representatives of the GAA, including its president Larry McCarthy who is a longtime member of the club. 

Martin said: “As Irish communities across the United States evolve, the GAA has an important part to play in keeping Irish people in the US connected to home.

“The association also helps us to connect new generations of Irish-Americans to their Irish culture and heritage, as well as those from other backgrounds who have an affinity for Ireland.” 

He said the government supports the GAA in its overseas work, including with an annual grant to the Global Games Development Fund. 

“The global GAA network is unique and it is something the Government is proud to be associated with,” he added.

“We have also, through the Emigrant Support Programme, supported a number of capital projects, such as the recent development of the facilities at Ruislip in London.”

Welcoming the funding, McCarthy said generations of Irish people have “anchored their life in New York” around weekly pilgrimages to what locals call ‘The Park’, allowing them to “maintain a link with home and to make friends, find work and build up contacts that allow them to make the most of the opportunity of living in New York”.

He said GAA clubs worldwide are an “invaluable support structure” for emigrants.

Between 350 – 400 players from nursery age to adult senior level use the playing facility of Gaelic Park weekly. There are 50 clubs in existence across the city. 

The Emigrant Support Programme is central to the Irish Government of Ireland’s engagement with our communities abroad. Since its inception in 2004, the Emigrant Support Programme has assisted over 530 organisations in some 37 countries with grants totalling over €220 million.

Since 2007, a match-funding partnership arrangement with the GAA has facilitated Emigrant Support Programme funding of just over €5.7m towards GAA’s Games Development worldwide.

The Global Games Development Fund provides financial support for projects that increase opportunities for the Irish Diaspora and other communities abroad to play Gaelic Games, strengthening Irish networks and Irish identity internationally.

The support announced by the Tánaiste is in addition to Emigrant Support Programme funding provided annually to the GAA through the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Global Games Development Fund which supports GAA clubs and enables them to create a sporting and community network for the Diaspora worldwide.

At present, the GAA estimates it has more than 450 GAA clubs operating outside of Ireland and throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

Written by Eoghan Dalton and posted on TheJournal.ie

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