Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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108. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether there is accommodation in the Irish-Palestinian scholarship programme (IPSP) for individuals, who have been unable to complete their secondary education in Palestine owing to genocide and humanitarian disaster but wish to apply for a scholarship in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26736/25]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Ireland Fellows Programme (IFP) was established in 1974 and is an important element of the Irish Aid programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It enables early to mid-career professionals with leadership potential, from developing countries, to benefit from a quality education in Ireland. The programme contributes to capacity building by offering selected students the opportunity to undertake a fully funded one-year master’s level programme at a Higher Education Institution in Ireland. It is managed for the Department by the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS).

There are a number of regional and thematic strands within the Ireland Fellows Programme, including the Ireland-Palestinian Scholarship Programme (IPSP) which was established in 2019. Since then, a total of 95 students from Palestine have been supported to obtain Masters level qualifications from 19 Higher Education Institutions in Ireland. The Programme awards up to 30 places annually to Palestinian graduates.

Given the impact of the crisis in Gaza on individual Fellows, additional supports have been provided by the Department, through ICOS, to the 2023/24 and 2024/25 cohorts of Fellows from Gaza.

As an undergraduate degree is a prerequisite for the awarding of an Ireland Fellowship, this programme does not provide options for secondary level students. Support to the Palestinian Ministry of Education is a core element of Ireland's development programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.