As if there weren't enough reasons to visit/live in NYC, there might (with a bit of money and luck) be one more.
Center's a go - The Irish Echo Online - June 17, 2009
http://www.irishecho.com/search/searchstory.cfm?id=19376&issueid=633 Here is an excerpt:
An all encompassing Irish arts, cultural, business and social center in Manhattan is a go according to Minister Martin Cullen...
The idea of a large scale Irish center has been discussed for some years. Actor Gabriel Byrne has been to the forefront of the effort to turn the dream into reality.
"From the government's point of view, we are committed to the arts center and want to get the project underway," said Cullen.
He said that the money necessary for the initial planning phase would amount to $170,000 and the Irish government was ready to inject this sum.
Cullen said that officials from his department would be be looking at the capital plan for the center because there was now a need to formalize the project which, he estimated, would cost as much as $30 million to ultimately complete.
The cost of the center is expected to be covered in the main by private donations...
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Gabriel discussed the concept of an Irish Center almost a year ago in an Irish Echo Online article. The article includes a fairly lengthy quotation of Gabriel's thoughts on the meaning of home and roots. (Bonus SFH vibe: "The chair in which Byrne is reflecting on his transatlantic sense of self is in a corner of a Greenwich Village hotel where he once lived after his apartment was flooded.").
Actor's pitch line - Gabriel Byrne sees Irish center rising - The Irish Echo Online - August 27, 2008
http://www.irishecho.com/search/searchstory.cfm?id=18808&issueid=591
