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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.
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Does anyone know of one bar or restaurant, or hair salon for that matter, that reduced their prices when they last sought and received a 4.5% VAT reduction? Furthermore, does anyone know of one bar, restaurant or hair salon that didn’t increase their prices by at least 4.5% when the VAT rate was returned to 13.5%?
@Jack Cass: Of course not. Price only goes up, never down. Price gouging seems to be a national sport in Ireland unfortunately.
@Jack Cass: The reduction is to help them, not the customers
@Jack Cass: I know plenty of bars and restaurants that have closed down though. I doubt they did that before setting Thor prices to the minimum viable
@Jack Cass: The point of the reduction was not to reduce prices for consumers, it was so that the costs for the businesses would come down and they could afford to stay open at a time when energy, insurance, wages and all other inputs were skyrocketing. The reason prices kept rising when the vat rate returned to 13.5% is that those costs are still rising. Government imposed costs such as the extra bank holiday, increased sick days, increased employer prsi have a huge effect on an industry that has to employ a lot of staff but which operates on very small margins. If you think it’s an industry that makes super profits then explain why so many have closed or gotten into serious financial problems in the past number of years e.g. Press Up Group.
@Richard Keogh: Press up group is an awful example if you’re wanting to talk about the hard-pressed hospitality business. Leveraged to the hilt and it all comes crashing down eventually.
‘Standard’ VAT rate of 23% on toilet paper,shampoo and toothpaste. Everyday essentials. It means every time you spend €5 on these products roughly €1 goes to the exchequer. To pay for bike sheds and security huts.
@Larry Betts: Michael Stone needs another yacht, those things don’t pay for themselves.
Will they pass on to customers i think not
@martin finnegan:
Hotel prices have more than doubled over the past 2 yrs (.Assuming you can find one)
Eating out is twice the price .
Will they return to 2022 prices.
Definitely not.
The decision on this – as one so many other important business decisions will be heavily influenced by senior civil servants who have permanent pensionable Monday to Friday secure jobs, and who have never come remotely close to ever running a business themselves. ( Having a degree is NOT the same thing )
Many of the recurring problems in modern Ireland stem from this fact.
Lowering the Vat rate won’t help small cafes & restaurants, Roderic O Gorman has destroyed Irish Tourism in less than 2 years, particularly along the Western seaboard. A business & brand that took decades to build wiped out by ROG in 2 years. Multi millionaires been made now out of IPAS accommodation, the biggest growth business in Ireland. Unfortunately it does nothing for Tourism or Hospitality.
@SV3tN8M4: It sounds like those business are doing quite well
So they won’t reimplement the 9% rate as it will cost €764m or €545m for the year. If only there was €14bn coming into the coffers in a few months…
@Stephen Heffernan: why would or should they. The hospitality industry didn’t pass the reduction on the last time. If they do reduce the vat rate then everyone needs to accept that it is a direct subvention to the running costs and profit of the industry and not be looking for prices to reduce…because they won’t. I’d rather my tax money was used in better ways….just my opinion
@Stephen Heffernan: the hotel gouging for the likes of the Oasis concert will more than make up for it.
@Toca Stories: I agree and I don’t think prices would decrease for the customer. I’m just pointing out the fact that they’re using cost as the reason to not reimplement it when in fact there’s plenty of money available if they wanted to do it.
Buy 50 pints in the bar of your local hotel and get a free nights accommodation.
Why are they consulting these businesses. The lower VAT rate is to benefit the consumer isn’t it?
@Liam Byrne: No, it was to keep businesses alive, it was never about lowering prices for consumer.
Hahahahahaha!
Definitely not hotels.. they took the shillings for refugees and opened the rest of the hotel at double the price. You can’t have it both ways. Greed.
It’s a race to the bottom.
They robbed the country blind when vat rate dropped to help them, so i say f the lot of them bring their vat rate up to 23% the greedy robbin bstrds
the price will not decrease if they even get that.
it will continue to get higher, and less rooms will be available anyway and everybody knows why
have your say