Increased funding for Irish immigrant groups in the US has been announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke. At a meeting in the Irish Consulate in New York with representatives of immigrant organisations, the Minister said the grants to 13 support groups across the US for this year would total $253,300, an increase of £20,000 over last year.
Earlier Mr Burke had a meeting in his hotel with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amre Moussa, to discuss the ban on Irish live cattle exports to Egypt in place since the beginning of the year.
He said he was hopeful of a lifting of the ban following the visit of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to Cairo next week. Mr Moussa had assured him of his "total support and good will" on this question.
Mr Burke visited the Aisling and Emerald Isle immigration centres in the Yonkers and Queens areas of New York in the afternoon. Later he called on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the City Hall, and on Governor George Pataki at his New York office.