First visit of the Dalai Lama in 20 years

TIBET’S spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has arrived in Ireland for his first visit in 20 years.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate will speak at sold-out events in Dublin, Kildare and Limerick in the coming days as part of his third trip to the country.

The 76-year-old exiled leader, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, was invited to the country by close friend Richard Moore, founder of the Children in Crossfire charity.

Mr Moore was blinded by a rubber bullet in Derry at the age of 10 and he sought out and befriended the British soldier who shot him.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, hosted Mr Moore and the soldier, Charles Innes, at his Indian residence last year.

The spiritual leader will attend a conference attended by 2,000 people today.

The Possibilities civic summit in Citywest aims to inspire young people to speak out to help improve the country and is organised by three non-profit organisations — Afri, which focuses on human rights, Children in Crossfire and SpunOut.ie, a youth website and forum.

The Dalai Lama will speak on Universal Responsibility and how taking action for change is something everyone has a duty to do.

Former Irish president and ex-UN Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will also be among the speakers, along with performances from Irish musicians, theatre from schoolchildren at Scoil Eoghan in Moville, Co Donegal and other acts.

More than 1,200 tickets for the event sold out within five days of going on sale. The remaining 800 tickets were sold cheaply or given away to youth and community groups throughout the country.

The Dalai Lama will then travel to nearby Kildare town where he will be greeted with music by local schoolchildren as part of a visit organised by nuns of the Brigidine Sisters.

The Nobel Laureate will visit the University of Limerick on Thursday where he will deliver another sold-out public address to an estimated 3,100 people.

Schoolchildren from Limerick Regeneration Areas, estates troubled in recent years by drugs and organised crime gangs, will join with performers from the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, the Irish Chamber Orchestra and other guests.

The Irish Chamber Orchestra’s Youth Chorus, made up from three Limerick Regeneration Schools, will perform a song written for the visit to the city, called Forgiveness is a Gift.

The exiled spiritual leader formally announced earlier this month that he plans to step down as Tibet’s head of state and make way for his elected replacement.

The Chinese government had long considered him to be a dangerous separatist, with a senior Communist Party official describing him as a “wolf in monk’s robes”.

The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet.

Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have chosen to be reborn in order to serve humanity.