Irish business owners and members of the New York GAA are pleased with the announcement last week by Minister Micheal Martin that 20,000 new visas will allow young Irish to come to the U.S. legally on an annual basis for one year.

Seamus Dooley, former president of the New York GAA, welcomed the news, saying it will be a massive boost for local sports.

"We are absolutely delighted with the news," said Dooley. "Anyone who was at the final in Gaelic Park last Sunday would have seen the quality of student players we had, and having more extra students next year, I think it will be great for the GAA and the game."

Dooley, who said word spread rapidly among the community about the visas, told the Irish Voice that there is already talk of two teams that had to disband due to lack of numbers in the past getting back up on their feet again.

"Down through the years we must have lost about 12 teams," he explained, citing lack of immigration as the reason.

Not only will there be far more bodies to play the game, Dooley said the standard will automatically rise because there will be a larger pool of talent to chose from.

"The players also want to play at Gaelic Park with the new facilities, and now we can have night matches as well so it couldn't come at a better time," said Dooley.

After meeting Martin at Gaelic Park last Sunday, Dooley said he congratulated him and expressed his gratitude and delight at the visas. "Fair play to the people that are behind it also. They have put in a massive amount of work," he said.

But, Dooley added, "Of course we want our undocumented taken care of as well - that is the most important thing."

The only issue left to deal with now, according to Dooley, is how to get all the newcomers jobs and accommodation. But he said, "I've not seen anyone yet that we couldn't get sorted."

Chairperson of the New York Ladies GAA, Nollaig Cleary, although happy that there will be more women playing the game as of next year, said that having players in New York for only a year will not develop the organization like they have been trying to do over the past few years.

"We need people who are going to get involved in the organization long term. The Ladies GAA is more set up to bring the young people up through the system and has been like that for a number of years because that was the need we had," she said.

Comparing it to the Australian situation, where thousands of Irish also go to the country, some to play football, for a year at a time and then leave, she said, "Teams will come but then they will go again."

Said Cleary, "In the short term having theses players will be of great benefit to a club, but for the long term or building of a club, it's the people that are here that we are looking to legalize, the people that have roots here already."

Mike Gaynor, owner of the Rose Restaurant in Queens, said a whole new batch of young people from Ireland will benefit the community enormously.

"It will be just great for the community having new people here," he said. "It's just what the Irish community needs."

Witnessing the slowing down of business over the years and shortage of Irish coming to New York due to a lack of immigration reform, Gaynor, who has owned Rose Restaurant for five years, said he is looking forward to having the community revitalized again and his restaurant busier with more young Irish customers. "It will be just a great boost for both the community and local businesses," he said.

Eugene Collum, who has been in the restaurant business with his wife Eileen as proprietors of Eileen's Country Kitchen and bar business in Yonkers for a number of years, told the Irish Voice that it will be good for the community to have a bit of life put back into the place again.

Although he is looking forward to a positive spin-off in terms of business, he does hope that the undocumented here in the U.S. will get looked after sooner rather than later. "The preference is to get the people who are here legalized," he said.

Mike Murphy, owner of Murphy's bar in Sunnyside, Queens and Mineola, said he thinks the idea of allowing 20,000 young Irish people to come to the United States is a "great idea" and he knows it will be "very successful."

Like, Collum, he said he hopes the next step will be to do something for the undocumented who are here. Some, Murphy said, are "here longer than myself and I'm here 24 years."

"The best thing that ever happened to me was getting a Morrison visa," said Murphy.

The Ireland-U.S. Council, a business organization dedicated to building business ties between Ireland and the US, welcomes the decision to expand the work visa program between Ireland and the U.S.

The outgoing president of the Ireland-U.S. Council Michael J. Gibbons said, "It is extremely gratifying that an issue on which the council has invested sustained effort has met with such positive and tangible results. We believe that the council's advice to liberalize the rules on these visa matters will make an important and positive difference in strengthening the links between America and Ireland. We are delighted to salute these new rules with enthusiasm."