About 1,000 people turned out in Kildare town centre this afternoon to greet the Dalai Lama.
RTE reports that he was presented with a St Brigid’s Cross and a St Brigid’s Flame – the symbols of Kildare’s spiritual heritage and of justice and peace.
Well-known uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn performed ‘Tabhair Dom do Lámh’ as the Dalai Lama walked the short distance to St Brigid’s Cathedral where is saying private prayers.
Earlier, the exiled Tibetan leader, who is on his first visit to the Republic of Ireland in 20 years, delivered a major speech at a conference in Dublin.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of his address, the Dalai Lama said he was ‘happy to be here once more’.
He said he always ‘felt a connection with Ireland’, as in 1959 when he raised the issue of Tibet at the UN, the Irish Government co-sponsored that initiative.