Stars in Dublin for Aung San Suu Kyi

The former political prisoner was in the Irish city on Monday as part of her first visit to Europe in almost 25 years.

Thousands of supports sang Happy Birthday to Ms Suu Kyi, who will be 67 on Tuesday, at a special celebration at Grand Canal Square.

She also received the Freedom of the City - 12 years after being given the accolade - as well as an Amnesty International award which was presented by U2 frontman Bono.

"This will be one of the unforgettable days of my life," said Ms Suu Kyi.

"To receive this award is to remind me that 24 years ago, I took on duties from which I have never been relieved. But you have given me the strength to carry them out. You have shown me that I shall never be alone as I go about my discharge of these duties."

I've been welcomed to Ireland as though I belong to you and I thank you with all my heart.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Bono, who helped arrange the gig, thanked Ms Suu Kyi for choosing to visit Ireland during her first trip from Burma as a free woman.

"We are humbled, grateful at the fact one of your first trips overseas, you have chosen a small rock in the north Atlantic," said Bono.

"Although we know why - it is to hold our hands through the Italy game," he added - before the Republic's 2-0 defeat in Euro 2012.

"After all your years of wide-open heartache and in a closed space, your newly travelled road has brought you to Dublin to a great big bun fight in your honour."

Ms Suu Kyi was met at Dublin Airport earlier in the day by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Amnesty International Executive Director Colm O'Gorman.

She arrived slightly behind schedule on a flight from Norway where she picked up her Nobel Peace prize 21 years after it was awarded.

Until last November, Ms Suu Kyi had spent 15 of the last 24 years under house arrest.

Mr Gilmore said: "Ms Suu Kyi is enormously admired in this country and her visit here is something which we have long hoped to see.

"I want to again pay tribute to those Irish human rights organisations and individuals who campaigned on her behalf and who helped highlight her struggle over so many years."

The Labour TD said that over the last five years Ireland had provided $7m of aid to Burma through NGO and other agencies.

He continued: "Successive Irish Governments have supported the Burmese people in their struggle for democracy and human rights and I have assured Ms Suu Kyi of our full support in the important period ahead.

"I hope that the recent positive developments in Burma, including Ms Suu Kyi's election, herald the real beginning of a new era of peace, democracy and human rights."

Mr Gilmore described the visit as "a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the warmth and affection in which this remarkable and courageous woman is rightly held by the Irish people."

Ms Suu Kyi then met with president Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin where she was conferred with an honorary degree from Trinity College Dublin.

Afterwards President Higgins said he was "very pleased" to have had the opportunity to welcome her to his residence and to hear directly her account of the challenges she now faces.

"I wished Daw Suu Kyi every success with her Irish visit and her ongoing important work on behalf of the Burmese people, which enjoys the full support of the Irish people."

Ms Suu Kyi will now begin a four-day visit to the UK.