If you build it they will come. And if you pay for it they will certainly build it. Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin this week announced what is being billed as "a major grant for a landmark Irish project in New York."

The grant comes in at a handsome 2.3 million euro [$3.4 million] and will be provided immediately towards the construction of "a state of the art" Irish Arts Center in Manhattan, the money coming from the Irish government's Emigrant Support Program.

The long envisaged and anticipated center will be located on a west side of Manhattan site that the City of New York is prepared to donate to the project.

And while it would be an arts center of a far larger scale than the existing Irish Arts Center, the general expectation is that the facility will be geared towards a broad range of cultural, social and business activists.

The grant comes on the heels earlier this year of the Irish government's Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh and the "Strategic Review of Ireland-U.S. Relations," unveiled Taoiseach Brian Cowen last March.

Minister Martin said he was "extremely impressed" by arguments for the center made at Farmleigh by members of the business and cultural sectors alike.

"The allocation of such significant funding is a clear demonstration of the government's strong commitment to the building of the new Irish Arts Center in New York. This funding is a response to the extraordinary gesture of the City of New York in making a site, valued at $12 million, available for the project, along with a further $8 million in capital funding," said Martin in a statement.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who recently met with Martin during a visit to Dublin, welcomed the funding move.

"The Irish Arts Center has become a New York City treasure and a world class cultural destination," she said of the existing center.

"I am delighted that with this financial commitment from the Irish government, the Irish Arts Center will continue to be home to first-rate performances for all to enjoy and appreciate. It is a most welcome sign that Ireland is wisely investing in the arts and the Irish brand in its most important overseas market," she said.

The new center, said Martin, would project a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America across the United States, would facilitate extensive Irish-related cultural, business and community programs, would showcase quality contemporary Irish theatre and art and would also provide an invaluable resource for the Irish immigrant community in the United States.

Martin paid tribute to New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn for their "exceptional support" for the initiative. He also thanked actor Gabriel Byrne for his support work in promoting Irish culture throughout the United States.

Byrne has been a leading advocate for the new center.

"A new center would encourage not just the importation of current Irish culture, and diverse current Irish culture, but would encourage the development of a unique Irish-American cultural voice, this while we would have the place to do it, which is also a business center where people from Ireland could come in and do business, where Irish people could get together socially," Byrne said of the proposed center in an interview with the Irish Echo last year.

"I have begun to demonstrate that despite the difficult budgetary situation, we are determined to continue investing in our unique resource, the Irish Diaspora and its cultural heritage. This is just the beginning and I will be making further announcements in the New Year," Martin said.

His announcement follows a statement in New York last June by his colleague, Arts, Sport and Tourism Minister Martin Cullen, that a new Irish center was a go as far as the Irish government was concerned.