Mitchell Scholars Arrive in Ireland

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American Ambassador Tom Foley welcomed the new class of George J. Mitchell Scholars to Ireland at a reception he hosted in their honor at his Dublin residence.

Four of the twelve Scholars have US military ties—two West Point graduates, one graduate of the Naval Academy and one ROTC member. One of the West Point grads, Sean Healy, just returned from a tour of duty in Baghdad. Scholar Brendan Hayes spent the last two years working to combat AIDS in Swaziland, and Nate Wright has won numerous human rights awards for his creation of a student coalition of more than 500 university campuses to bring attention to the genocide in Darfur. View bios on all of this year’s Scholars.

Guests included Bernard, Moira and Michael McNamara, DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski, John & Cearuil Morrissey, Laurence Flavin of Quinlan Private, Mark Patrick Hederman from Glenstal Abbey, Paul Hayes and RTE presenter Mary Calpin, and many other friends and supporters of the program.

In April 2008, the Alliance will take the nearly 100 alumni of the program to Belfast to mark the tenth anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. Senator Mitchell and many of the negotiators of the Agreement have already agreed to be part of the event.