The Emerald Isle Immigration Center Welcomed Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore T.D. to its Woodlawn Office in the Bronx, on Sunday, September 25, 2011
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, visited the Emerald Isle Immigration Center on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn this past Sunday to celebrate the services the Center has given the community for almost twenty-five years. The Tánaiste witnessed the vibrant Irish network that exists around the Emerald Isle, met with local seniors and members of the Bronx community.
He was greeted by EIIC Chairman Brian O’Dwyer, Board members and Executive Director Siobhán Dennehy, who introduced the Tánaiste to the Immigration Services, the Seniors Program and the Social Services that are provided by the Center. The visit follows the week in which the Center’s Meals-On-Wheels scheme was formally launched by New York State Senator Jeff Klein, capping a busy period for the staff and a welcome service for local seniors.
Among those assembled on Sunday to meet An Tánaiste was the Irish Language Group that meets every week in the EIIC to practice their cúpla focal under the tutelage of staff member Aine Murphy. The Center’s hugely productive Knitting Group was also represented in the audience for the Tánaiste.
The vital Immigration Services that the Emerald Isle offers to the community were to the forefront, as the Tánaiste met with the staff that has been on the frontline of a recent increase in emigration from Ireland. Staff members on hand were able to elaborate on the valuable work of the organization, their experience of recent trends in Irish immigration and the prospects for immigrants in a sluggish U.S. economy.
Questions:
Contact Executive Director, Siobhan Dennehy via email: siobhand@eiic.org or 718/478-5502 Ext 206