I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 25 and 26 together.
The recent visit to Ireland by His Holiness the Dalai Lama was private, and therefore the question of invitations or of a meeting with him did not arise. While here, the Dalai Lama opened an exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library. Among those present were the Ministers for Education and Labour who, as guests of the organisers, had the opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama informally.
As I made clear in this House on a previous occasion, the Dalai Lama is a respected and revered religious leader of Tibetans. In my view he deserves the highest credit for his continuing commitment to a peaceful approach, through dialogue, to the problems faced by the Tibetan people. In relation to human rights in Tibet, the concerns of Ireland and its European partners were raised as recently as 27 February last at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.