In what is a clear blow for the enormous prestige in Ireland enjoyed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, the U.S. State Department has moved to cut funding for the Mitchell Scholarships, a program that sends a dozen top level American college graduates to Ireland on a yearly basis.
The program is run not by Mitchell himself, but by the US-Ireland Alliance, headed by Trina Vargo, who was once an aide to the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
In an email to supporters and journalists late last week, Vargo - who has stirred controversy in the past by virtue of statements on issues such as immigration and the electoral influence of Irish America - said that the U.S. Department of State "has informed us that it intends to eliminate funding for the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program." Said Vargo in the statement: "If that happens, we will not hold a selection process in October/November (to send a class of 2013-2014 Mitchell Scholars to Ireland and Northern Ireland). The class departing this September is already funded and will go as planned.
"Senator Mitchell and the board of the Alliance are working to overturn this decision quickly, in hopes that we do not have to halt the fall selection process. We are also working to find long-term stable funding for the Mitchell (program)."
It is understood that the Department of State contributes $485,000 to the Mitchell program, with each allocation being spent over a 17 month period.
The program was established in the aftermath of Senator Mitchell's work in securing the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students, aged 18-30, to pursue one year of postgraduate study in Ireland, North and South. About 300 apply every year for Mitchells, but only about a dozen applicants are typically successful.
In recent months, efforts had been stepped up to retain funding for the program with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts leading the push in the U.S. Senate.
The effort mirrored a similar one aimed at retaining U.S. support for the International Fund for Ireland. It was unclear this week whether or not U.S. IFI funding would be maintained in the light of the Mitchell decision.
The Alliance's Trina Vargo has indicated her view in the past that if IFI funding was terminated, funds could then be diverted to the Mitchell program, which has been attempting to raise money on both sides of the Atlantic for an endowment that would makes its future secure.
In an early sign of support for a retention of Mitchell funding, the Belfast Telegraph expressed support in an editorial. "The threat to the prestigious George J Mitchell Scholarship program, which allows future American leaders to do post-graduate studies in Ireland, must be resisted," the editorial stated.
"This program - for a relatively small amount of money - creates a ripple effect among influential people on both sides of the Atlantic. The post-graduate scholars bring other fee-paying students from the U.S. to Ireland and afterwards both sides spread the good news about each other......Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be lobbied to retain the scholarships.
"Surely Ireland and the U.S. can easily endow the program - a mere $500,000 a year - given its influential outcomes. This is not about hand-outs, but about working for mutual benefit."
