Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for coming back to the House on this matter and for taking the unusual step of accepting an amendment in principle from this House and formally proposing it in the Seanad with the clear knowledge that he would have to bring the Bill back to this House and thereby lose a certain amount of operational time. I appreciate that.

I will briefly explain the reason we tabled this amendment. Some concerns were expressed about the operation of this fund and some ill-informed comments were made which have been distractionary. In view of the variable standard of accountancy practices worldwide, it is not necessary for the Minister to be in the driving seat in terms of the nomination or identification of either an accountancy firm or a manager but it is necessary for the Minister to have some oversight or final say and to be satisfied on behalf of taxpayers that the selection was appropriate and those concerned are professionally competent to do the work involved.

Suggestions were made to the effect that this fund represents a great deal of Irish taxpayers' money being allocated at a time when there are cutbacks and constraints in other areas of expenditure in education, but Deputy Brian Hayes and I have held to account in that regard the Minister of State and the Minister. In the ill-informed commentary against this project an understanding of what an endowment fund actually is has been obscured. An endowment fund is a once-off lump sum of capital allocated for a particular purpose, surrounded by proper trustees, fiduciary requirements and safeguards, and the income derived from that once-off fund would go towards the funding of the scholarships. In other words, it is not the case the €20 million in the fund will be disbursed over a period of time and once it is all allocated the trustees will come back and seek more money. Such a fund is a fairly standard procedure in many educational institutions. There are chairs endowed in Trinity and UCD. A once-off capital sum is set aside and made available and the income derived from that fund is deemed to be adequate to fund the exercise, in this case to provide for approximately 12 students under the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund.

I want to repeat a point, as I want to put it on record in view of what has been said by way of ill-informed comment elsewhere. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the St. Andrews accord and the other agreements, Hillsborough being the final one, we have finally reached a stage in our relationship with the other island and the Unionist community in Northern Ireland, it having been bedevilled for centuries. That bedevilled relationship found its way across the Atlantic and was reflected in the activities of many Irish Americans in trying to help their former homeland to come to an accommodation as to how we share these islands together. This has been successfully achieved. It is, to borrow a phrase from the Italian Communist Party, a classic historical compromise. We now need to reach out to a much wider American community who have no Irish connections, no Irish antecedents and no reason to be aware of what Ireland, and Britain for that matter, have achieved or not achieved in the past. The option presented to Americans to study here in some of the best universities in Europe, as international rated agencies have testified, will give us in Ireland an opportunity to reach out to new cohorts of Americans who have no knowledge, experience or familial ties with this country. Hopefully their experience of studying in top class universities here will open up new opportunities to achieve the kind of knowledge-based economy and international collaboration which is one of the objectives of the Government and one of the specific responsibilities for which the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, has direct responsibility. I thank him for accepting the amendment and for bringing it back to the House.

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