A 23-year-old Irish student is in a critical condition in a Chicago hospital after being attacked early yesterday morning in the city.
Natasha McShane, a postgraduate student from UCD, was studying at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
According to reports, Ms McShane and a female friend were attacked at 3.30am (local time) while on the way back to the friend's house in the Bucktown area of the city after a night out.
The attacker struck the women with a baseball bat, before stealing their purses and running away.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it is providing consular assistance to the woman's family, who are currently travelling to Chicago.
It is understood that Ms McShane is from Silverbridge in south Armagh.
She had recently completed studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago and has just secured an internship in the US.
She completed her primary degree at Queen's University in Belfast and did an MA in Urban and Regional Planning at UCD.
In 2008 she was awarded a cross-border scholarship, organised by Universities Ireland, to encourage students to carry out post-graduate studies at an institution on the other side of the north/south border from where they normally lived.
Spokesman for the University of Illinois in Chicago Bill Burton confirmed Ms McShane is a graduate student at the university's College of Urban Planning and Public affairs and had been studying there since January.
