Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Absolutely. We have taken a leading role in keeping the issue of Burma alive in international forums as well as domestically. We were clear in our opposition to the elections and also to the constitutional provisions that were designed by the military regime to maintain its stranglehold on Burmese political life. The military were allocated 25% of the seats in Parliament, and it was stipulated that no changes could be made to the constitution unless more than 75% of members of Parliament supported such a change, which is virtually impossible to achieve. That is what one is up against.

We have been supporting civil society organisations working on long-term development projects globally. In Burma, this funding has enabled Trócaire, for example, to run programmes to strengthen civil society in Burma and support some 500,000 Burmese refugees and internally displaced persons in the Thai border area. Irish Aid also supports the UNICEF programme in Burma, providing basic health care for women and children and protection for vulnerable groups. My Department has also supported and funded a number of initiatives of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, including the Second and Fourth Congresses of the Members of Parliament Union Burma, which were held in Dublin. We provided financial support to enable that to happen. A consultation meeting was organised with a range of opposition and ethnic groups in Dublin in January of last year - I met those concerned at the time - and a similar follow-up meeting took place in Jakarta in August. We have also been a strong supporter of Burma Action Ireland, as I said earlier.

As part of our refugee resettlement and integration programme, Ireland welcomed a group of 97 refugees from the Burma-Thailand border in 2007, and 78 Burmese Rohingya refugees from camps in Bangladesh. All in all, we have played a constructive and significant role in dealing with Burma, and we remain committed to this.

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