Overseas University Courses.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2006

Tuesday, 12 December 2006

Ceisteanna (322)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ceist:

341 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Irish consul in California donated funding to a course on revisionist history run by the British Studies Department in the University of California, Berkeley and has refused funding to a course on traditional Irish music proposed to be run under Celtic studies at the same university; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42346/06]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

A small grant has been given through the Irish Consulate in San Francisco for an Irish Speakers series at the University of California, Berkeley. Speakers in the series have included Paul Sweeney of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Professor Jane Helen Ohlmeyer, Dean of Graduate Studies, Trinity College, and poets Greg Delanty and Liam Ó Muirthile.

I am aware of a suggestion for a traditional Irish music course in the Celtic Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and am informed that an early meeting is being arranged by the Consul General in San Francisco to discuss the idea. The question of a decision having been taken on any funding for such a course does not arise at this stage, given that an actual application has not been made.