Speaking at a civic reception in his honour at the Mansion House in Dublin on Friday 13 February, the Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu praised the Irish people for their tradition of generosity to those less fortunate than themselves. He said: “You have been wonderful in your generosity to us and to people in other parts of the world who have been less well off than yourselves. One of the wonderful things about yourselves has been your capacity to remember how you were when you didn’t have the Celtic Tiger. You supported us at the time of our struggle against apartheid.”
 

The Bishop urged Irish people to put their current economic difficulties into perspective. Speaking on his visit to Dublin, the Nobel Peace Laureate said Ireland was doing a great job in wanting to share its "bounty", but admitted that some people have been a little greedy and selfish. Archbishop Tutu said it was important to remember that although we are going through financial difficulties we are still so much better off than those in some other countries. Since his retirement, Tutu has worked to critique the new South African government and has been consistently vocal in his condemnation of corruption throughout the world.

Archbishop Tutu has praised Irish people for their support of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and their continuing charitable efforts in his country. He also commended charities such as the St Patrick’s Trust – of which he is patron – and the Niall Mellon Trust, whose work showed how Ireland was “seeking to accompany us on the much more difficult terrain that you have to traverse when freedom comes”.

A quarter-century after the archbishop won the Nobel Peace prize and singer Bob Geldof released Band Aid’s Christmas single, both men spoke at a lecture in NUI Galway on Sunday 15 February. The event was hosted by NUI Galway’s (NUIG) Literary and Debating Society, which said it was delighted to welcome two “giants of human rights” on campus. Archbishop Tutu, on whom the Nobel prize was conferred in 1984 for his anti-apartheid work, addressed his audience on aid, justice and charity. He was presented with the society’s president’s medal by Geldof, whose human rights work dates back to the release of the Band Aid charity single, Do They Know It’s Christmas, also in 1984.