merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D., has welcomed the announcement that plans are in train for an early visit to Ireland by Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma.

Speaking in response to today’s announcement the Tánaiste said:

“I am delighted to have been asked to lend the Government’s support to the plans being made to bring Aung San Suu Kyi to Ireland. Ms. Suu Kyi is enormously admired in this country and I wish to 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.

Successive Irish Governments have supported the Burmese people in their struggle for democracy and human rights and this Government will continue to do so. I hope that the recent positive developments in Burma, including Ms. Suu Kyi’s election and the success of the recent by-elections there, herald the beginning of a new era of peace, democracy and human rights. I look forward to the opportunity a visit presents to discuss with Ms. Suu Kyi how Ireland can further assist the people of Burma.”

18 May 2012

Note to Editors:

The invitation to Ms. Suu Kyi has been at the initiative of Mr. Bill Shipsey, the founder of Art for Amnesty – Amnesty International´s global artist engagement programme. He has also initiated and has produced Amnesty's Ambassador of Conscience Award - an accolade that has been bestowed on such diverse activists as Nelson Mandela, Václav Havel, Peter Gabriel and U2. Further details of the visit, including a special event to mark the occasion, are to be announced shortly.