8. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the pathways that exist for students at relevant third level courses in Ireland to secure an internship with her Department or related agency in order to gain experience in diplomacy, international relations and Irish foreign policy; the positions are advertised and where, if there is an email address or a point of contact to make applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74726/26]

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a number of established paid graduate internship programmes which run from 6 to 22 months depending on the role. These internships are in the areas of human rights, conflict resolution, legal affairs, communications and development. Recruitment to these internship opportunities is carried out by means of a competitive selection process which usually attracts strong interest from well qualified applicants.

All graduate internships in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are advertised on our career page on www.gov.ie.

The Department also facilitates the placement of four University of Limerick students under the University's Cooperative Education Programme each year. These placements run for 6 months and recruitment is carried out by a competitive selection process in conjunction with the university.