Darragh O'Brien (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 370: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the grants available to Irish students studying in third level colleges in the USA; and the way a person can apply for them. [35410/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Fulbright Commission (Ireland-United States Commission for Educational Exchange) provides scholarships to Irish citizens to lecture, research or study in the United States and for US citizens to lecture, research or study in Ireland. The Commission has supported more than 1,600 Irish postgraduate students, academics and professionals who have studied in top US colleges and research institutes and more than 600 US students and scholars have come to Ireland. In this academic year, 21 Irish students and 9 scholars will study in the US.

Each year the Commission advertises awards for Irish post-graduates, students and professionals as follows:

1. All Discipline Fulbright Awards

2. Irish Studies / Language Fulbright Awards

3. International Fulbright Science & Technology Award — for students only

4. Fulbright — Schuman Award.

The deadline for applications for the 2009-2010 academic year is the 5th of December 2008. Further details and information on applications can be found on the Fulbright Commission's website http://www.fulbright.ie/

The Department of Education and Science part-funds two projects which may overlap with the area of interest, The Washington Ireland Programme and The Wider Horizons Programme.

The Washington Ireland Programme has been in operation since 1995. It extends the opportunity to promising university students from Ireland north and south to partake in summer career training and professional development in the US (mainly Washington). The objective of this programme is to bring together young adults from all traditions in Ireland who show potential leadership qualities and provide them with a first hand experience of US government and culture. In 2007, thirty outstanding third level college students participated in the Washington Ireland Programme. Further details and information on applications can be found on the Washington Ireland Programme website http://www.wiprogram.org.

The Wider Horizons Programme commenced in 1988. It involves student teachers from both religious communities in Ireland north and south. The four teacher training colleges involved are St. Patrick's College and Church of Ireland College in the south, and St. Mary's College and Stranmillis College in the north. The programme is a working model of a cross-community, cross-tradition, cross-border and cross-cultural venture, concerned with professional development, reconciliation and mutual understanding.

In 2007 for example, 13 Irish student teachers, (5 from the south and 8 from the north) spent 6 weeks teaching in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, in school-based summer projects for young people in disadvantaged and multi-cultural urban areas.