There was a full house at Rosie O’Grady’s Manhattan Club last Friday evening for the Irish Echo’s inaugural Top 50 Irish Small Business Awards.Fifty honorees and their guests were gathered for an awards dinner that also featured six “Emerald Entrepreneur” honorees: Anita Daly, Dennis J. Ryan, Dr. Paul Donahue, Frank Reynolds, Kevin Mulqueen and Larry O’Toole.Honorees, family members and friends came from San Antonio, Philadelphia, Chicago and other parts of the U.S. for the event which was hosted by Irish Echo president, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.The gathering was addressed by New York City Comptroller John Liu and Rob Walsh, New York City Commissioner for Small Business Services.It was also attended by City Council members Elizabeth Crowley and Daniel Dromm.In his address, Commissioner Walsh, who recently attended the Belfast City One Conference, said he was delighted to congratulate all the award winners.“I am looking forward to the upcoming conference at Fordham University with a great deal of excitement so we can continue to forge this relationship between cities,” said Walsh, this in a reference to the second New York New Belfast Conference, which this year is scheduled for the Fordham University Campus in Manhattan on June 8 and 9.
