The American Ireland Fund Young Leaders Honor CNBC Reporter Margaret Brennan and New York Giant Shaun O'Hara at Annual St. Patrick's Celebration

The American Ireland Fund Young Leaders Honor CNBC Reporter Margaret Brennan and New York Giant Shaun O'Hara at Annual St. Patrick's Celebration

NEW YORK, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The annual American Ireland Fund Young Leaders St. Patrick's Day Celebration was held last night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. More than 700 young professionals attended New York's premier St. Patrick's event, which has helped to raise over $1 million since 2006 in support of Irish and Irish-American philanthropic causes.

At the celebration, the Young Leaders presented the 2009 Young Leaders Irish Spirit Award to Margaret Brennan, Reporter for CNBC, and the 2009 Young Leaders Irish Athletics Award to Shaun O'Hara, of the New York Giants, in recognition of their Irish heritage, career achievements and philanthropic endeavors.

"The New York Young Leaders are a wonderful group of dedicated professionals who, in this time of economic crisis worked tirelessly to make this year's event a greater success than ever," said Kieran McLoughlin, President of The American Ireland Fund. "Their enthusiasm and commitment is inspiring and we are proud of everything that they have accomplished on behalf of The American Ireland Fund."

Event Co-Chairs Kara Duffy, Thomas Kennedy, Jr., and Rob MacGoey commented, "There were a number of obstacles we faced this year due to the current economic climate but thanks to the efforts of our St. Patrick's Celebration Committee, we continued to build on the success of prior years in organizing what has become New York City's premier St. Patrick's Celebration. We are especially proud of this year's success as it helped the Young Leaders exceed our goal of raising $1 million in four years."

The success of the 2009 St Patrick's Day Celebration was made possible with the support of sponsors Invest Northern Ireland, Michael Collins, Bridge Street Worldwide, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kennedy Computer Consulting, Stone Street Pub, The Permal Group and McSorley's Ale.

Notes to Editors

About The American Ireland Fund: The American Ireland Fund represents the global Irish making a difference together. The Worldwide Ireland Funds host more than 100 events in 40 cities attended by over 40,000 people. Since 1976, The Worldwide Ireland Funds have raised over $300 million for over 1,000 projects affecting the Irish Diaspora. For additional information please go to www.irlfunds.org.

Source: American Ireland Fund

CONTACT: Maureen Gillespie for American Ireland Fund, +1-212-689-3100,
mgillespie@irlfunds.org

Web Site: http://www.irlfunds.org/

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