Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 506: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the breakdown of the way the proposed €20 million in respect of the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund will be spent. [35647/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The funding of the George Mitchell Scholarship Programme is a reflection of the Government's gratitude for the significant contribution made by Senator Mitchell to the promotion of peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. The Government provided an endowment of £2 million for the programme in 1999. In 2007, a decision was taken to secure the long term viability of this programme by increasing Ireland's contribution to the fund for the programme by €20 million to be paid over a number of years conditional on matching funding being raised by the US-Ireland Alliance.

Implementation of this decision requires, inter alia, amendment of the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund Act 1998 and a new management and funding agreement between the US-Ireland Alliance and my Department. It is envisaged that the increased future investment income from the additional funding of up to €40 million, inclusive of matching funding, would primarily meet the cost of administration and bursaries for the successful students undertaking post-graduate study and research in universities and other approved institutions on the island of Ireland. It is not possible at this stage to indicate what that future income will be or to give a breakdown of possible disbursements from it.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 507: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the breakdown of how previous moneys put into the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund have been spent. [35648/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The funding of the George Mitchell Scholarship Programme is a reflection of the Government's gratitude for the significant contribution made by Senator Mitchell to the promotion of peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. The Government provided an endowment of IR£2million for the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund in 1999. Under the terms of a 1999 agreement between the US-Ireland Alliance and my Department, the Alliance was obliged to invest the monies contributed by the Irish Government in order to generate an income to meet the cost of funding one or more scholarships per year as well as the administration costs of the US-Ireland Alliance for these awards. The nominal value of the Fund decreased in a difficult investment climate in the US. In 2003 a decision was made to rest the Fund for a period by not making any disbursements in respect of scholarships from the income generated from the Fund.

Since 2003, the full quota (12) of scholarships has been funded from other resources raised by the US Ireland Alliance and the only expenses paid from the Fund have been the costs of the annual audit of the accounts and investment advisory fees for the Fund. The information sought by the Deputy in respect of expenditure is set out in the attached table. This information is taken from the audited accounts for the Fund which have been laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.