Ivana Bacik (Independent)

Like other Senators, I welcome this cross-party motion. It is most important that the House achieve consensus on this issue. It is particularly important that we call upon the member states of the United Nations, especially those countries with seats on the Security Council, to put pressure on the despotic regime in Burma to cease its repression of the Burmese people and release its political prisoners, not only Aung San Suu Kyi but other political prisoners referred to in the motion.

Irish people are very moved and concerned about pictures and reports of the suffering of Burmese monks and those who came out in support of them. All of us will recall the terrible pictures in newspapers on the Saturday before last, in particular those showing a dying student and the dying Japanese photographer to whom Senator Norris referred. These images were probably the reason so many of us took part in a protest in support of the Burmese people on O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre on the same day. It was heartening to see many hundreds turn out at such short notice and with very little publicity for a protest in support of the popular movement in Burma.

Senator Walsh referred to the 1798 uprising. The protests in Burma also evoke memories of other demonstrations. For me, they brought back memories of 1989 and the student protests across central and eastern Europe against Soviet sponsored regimes. They also brought back powerful images of the repression of students in Tiananmen Square in China in 1989. We should learn from this. It is heartening that so much has changed since 1989 in many of the countries in which students and others protested. This should remind us of the importance of adhering to the freedoms, civil liberties and human rights that we, in Ireland and most other western countries, take for granted. These include freedom of expression and freedom of movement, assembly and association. It is very important that we stand firm against attempts to restrict these freedoms in the name of security or the fight against terrorism and that we remember how important these freedoms are and what power they have had in countries where people try to fight against despotic and repressive regimes.

I welcome the motion. It is important, so early in the life of this Seanad, that we have a cross-party motion on such an important issue.