Secretary Riley was in Dublin during the visit of President Clinton, when the George Mitchell Scholarship scheme was announced by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The Irish Government has pledged £2 million to establish an endowment fund to enable American postgraduate students to attend Irish universities. The scheme, which is designed to honour the contribution of Senator George Mitchell to the building of peace in Ireland, will be similar to the Rhodes Scholarships which bring young high-flying American students to Oxford University (President Clinton was one in his youth).

The scheme will be administered by the US-Ireland Alliance, which has promised to raise matching funding (a further £2 million) in the US. It is unclear whether this money has yet been secured. However, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Education and Science, further details will be announced shortly. But what happens if no money is raised in the US? The Mitchell scholarships will still go ahead, the spokesperson confirms. "The £2 million is sufficient to establish the scheme and put the initial scholarships in place," he says.