The visitors are flown to Boston College from Dublin, Belfast and Shannon for the stated purpose of fostering peace in Ireland.
The tab is picked up by U.S. taxpayers, who next year will shell out $1 million to keep the program operating.
BC’s Irish Institute, which runs the program, is one of several cultural-exchange initiatives that would be funded in 2008 with 10 “earmarks” costing about $14 million included in the budget for the State Department and America’s “foreign operations.”
Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, both Massachusetts Democrats, have for the past decade earmarked the money for the Irish Institute. Kerry earned his law degree from the school in 1976.
This year, the Bush administration requested $800,000 for the program and defended it as necessary to increase “mutual understanding” with foreign countries, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Once Bush’s request reached the Senate Appropriations Committee, Kennedy and Kerry increased the total by $200,000.
Watchdog groups say the program is an example of what is wrong with earmarking, which funnels money to the pet projects of lawmakers or the president. The watchdogs complain it is hard to tell how the money is spent or whether the programs are worthwhile.
“Obviously there is a benefit to the exchange ofideas and the exchange of information for cultural and diplomacy reasons, but at some point you start wondering, is Ireland the country we don’t have the best relations with?” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
In one 11-day program put on by the Irish Institute, a dozen Irish citizens took a walking tour of Boston College, visited the Irish Immigration Center and participated in a seminar called “lobbying government,” which was conducted by BC’s Washington lobbyist.
Another 10-day program focused on autism. Other multiday programs focused on such topics as community building and investigative journalism.
A BC Web site entry about the Irish Institute Alumni Reunion Conference, held in April at a castle in Dublin and sponsored by the Institute, said funding for the program “has been made possible by the generous support of the U.S. Congress.”
Thomas Hachey, head of BC’s Center for Irish Programs, said in an e-mail message that he was “abundantly proud of the work of the Irish Institute.”
Kerry said the program “is working to help resolve some of the most intractable problems of our time including deep-seeded differences of faith, politics, historical conflict, and inequality.”
