Woman Films Sweet Moment She Meets Long-Distance Friend at New York Portal

Two childhood best friends reunited in a heartwarming moment at the portal connecting Dublin and New York. The livestream connecting the two cities on opposite sides of the Atlantic launched last Wednesday, however the Portal hit the headlines over the weekend after a minority of Irish pranksters coopted it and "inappropriate behavior" led to its premature temporary closure. As a result, the Portal was switched off at 10 p.m. on Tuesday and it is expected to return to the public later this week when a solution is found, Dublin City Council told Newsweek. Though the phenomenon has endured bad press due to anti-social revelers, many enjoyed the groundbreaking connection the technology was intended to bring to join the cities together. Georgia Gaffney, 23, (@georgiagmusic) was momentarily reunited with her long-distance bestie, Missy, in an uplifting video which amassed 1.8 million views. In the video, the transatlantic pals waved gleefully at each other through the Portal connecting the two major cities.

Gaffney told Newsweek: "It was so good, it's been so long it was so funny—we just waved at each other. It felt quite surreal, I think it was really cool and a nice mood booster. "I think it's a really beautiful idea and a nice refresher, if they use it right." The Irish singer said they arranged to meet at either side of the portal at 12 p.m. New York time, which was 5 p.m. Irish time on Friday, May 10. In the viral video, the singer said: "Getting my hair done. But I'm gonna meet my best friend who lives in New York at the Portal today. "So she's gonna go to the Portal, New York, and I'm gonna go in Dublin. Oh, my God, I'm here! I can't wait. Oh, my God." The friends excitedly waved and laughed as they saw each other on both sides of the Portal in a joyous exchange. Gaffney described the Irish side of the Portal as packed whereas the New York side was less busy, which she put down to the size difference between the two cities. In response to naysayers asking why she didn't just video chat with her friend, she said: "Dude it's the Portal, of course I'm going to go to the Portal."

Gaffney said she saw lots of lovely interactions, such as a brother holding up a sign for his sister and the most bizarre thing she saw was a fake proposal. As for the closure, she said: "Some of the Dublin stuff was ridiculous, I just think it's quite crazy, it shows we can't have nice things." The public art technology sculptures were launched on Wednesday, May 8 in a bid to bridge the two cities using a 24/7 visual livestream allowing residents to connect in real time. The Dublin Portal faces the city's most famous street, O'Connell Street, whereas the New York City portal is located on the Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, next to the iconic Flatiron Building. A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: "The team behind the Portal art sculpture, Portals.org, has been investigating possible technical solutions to inappropriate behavior by a small minority of people in front of the Portal. The Portals.org team is now investigating other options. "Dublin City Council had hoped to have a solution in place today, but unfortunately the preferred solution, which would have involved blurring, was not satisfactory. The Portals.org team is now investigating other options. "As a result the Portal will be switched off at 10 p.m. tonight [Tuesday, May 14] and the team at Portals.org have told us they expect it will be switched back on later this week. "We are delighted by how many people have been enjoying the Portal since it was launched last week. It has become a global phenomenon and it is important to note that the overwhelming majority of people interacting with the Dublin Portal have behaved appropriately."