Dalai Lama expected to visit Republic next year

national | miscellaneous | other press Friday October 22, 2010 03:09 by Scanner

The Irish Times - Friday, October 22, 2010

DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent

SPIRITUAL AND political leader the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the Republic in April next year.

During his visit, he is due to take part in a series of events being planned by three Irish-based non-governmental organisations – Children in Crossfire, Afri and SpunOut.ie.

The announcement comes just days before UTV screens a documentary about Children in Crossfire founder, Richard Moore.

The Dalai Lama’s Hero is to be broadcast this Sunday at 10.15pm.

Moore was blinded at the age of 10 by a rubber bullet in his native Derry, and has since become a leading international advocate for the rights of children suffering from “the injustice of poverty”.

The Dalai Lama is now patron of Children in Crossfire, which works to protect and promote the rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.

A statement from the organisation said that it was during a visit to the Dalai Lama’s home in exile in Dharmsala, India earlier this year that he accepted the invitation to return to Ireland.

More information on the trip itinerary and programme is due to be announced on the www.dalailamaireland.com website in the coming weeks.

With his message of peace, the exiled Tibetan leader has made three separate visits to Northern Ireland, in 2000, 2005 and 2007.

The Dalai Lama paid a one-day visit to the Republic on October 11th, 1973, when he was received at Áras an Uachtaráin by then-president, the late Erskine Childers.

On a subsequent visit in March, 1991, two years after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama informally met then-president Mary Robinson, but was not officially received by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

At the time the Tibet Support Group accused the Government of being “enslaved” to trading links with China, but the department said the visit was regarded as a private one.

China criticised the government for permitting the Tibetan leader to speak in public.