IRELAND'S president is to visit one of Scotland's most ethnically diverse yet poverty stricken neighbourhoods as part of a three-day tour, it has emerged.
Michael D Higgins will attend an event at a community centre in Glasgow's notorious Govanhill district, days before he becomes the first Irish head of state to address the Scottish Parliament.
President Higgins will meet activists and visit a number of local projects funded by the Irish Government, later attending a cultural event at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the area's MSP, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Govanhill has traditionally been a popular neighbourhood with Irish migrants over the decades and more recently has been home to families arriving from Pakistan and the Roma community.
It is the second official visit by President Higgins to Scotland, his first being an event on Iona in 2013 to mark the 1450th anniversary of the arrival of Ireland’s most famous emigrant to Scotland, St Colmcille.
It also follows the first state visit of a President of Ireland to the United Kingdom, in 2014.
President Higgins, who in previous incarnations has been a poet, writer and sociologist, will be accompanied on the visit by his actress wife Sabina and the Irish minister of state Joe McHugh.
The three-day tour starts on Monday, while the following day the President will be conferred with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws at the Edinburgh University after which its principal Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea will host a dinner in honour of President Higgins.
On Wednesday, the President will address MSPs in the Holyrood chamber, followed in the evening with a speech at a symposium on Irish history, hosted again by Edinburgh University.
He will then leave Scotland for France to attend a commemorative event to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
Welcoming President Higgins' visit to the city, Glasgow Lord Provost Sadie Docherty said: "My parents are Irish and I'm from Castlemilk. And it's no secret I'm very proud of both my Irish and Scottish heritage.
"Many Glaswegians like me are of Irish descent. Indeed the Irish helped build this city. So we are far more than near neighbours. We are Celtic cousins with a rich and shared history."
The tour will be the longest of any Irish president to Scotland and follows a low-key visit by President Higgins' predecessor Mary McAleese in 2007.
Mary Robinson also visted Iona in 1997, late on in her presidency, for the 1400th anniversary of the death of St Columba.
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