Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I wish my fellow parishioner, the Minister of State atthe Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Michael Kitt, every success. He will apply his undoubted talents in the service of the country in the coming years. I do so on a sad occasion, one on which we reflect on a very tragic country. On 26 September the Burmese Government lived up to its reputation for brutality and its threats to act against protests. It showed yet again that it was not afraid to spill the blood of innocent people to protect its interests.

It is worth recalling the recent history of this tragic country. In 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy decisively won elections which the junta had allowed in Burma. Under normal circumstances, she would have been sworn in as Prime Minister but, as we know, the military set aside the results of the elections and refused to hand over power, despite international denunciation and representations. In recognition of her bravery Aung San Suu Kyi has been awarded the Sakharov Prize and Nobel Peace Prize and remains under house arrest to this day.

To give an example of the inhumanity of the regime, for five years between 1995 and 2000 some of the restrictions placed on Aung San Suu Kyi were removed. However, even when her British-born husband, Michael Aris, was dying from cancer in 1999, the regime would not allow him to visit her. The couple never saw each other again and Aung San Suu Kyi remains separated from her children who live in the United Kingdom. While we know she is currently in reasonably good health, she is often refused access to her doctor and visitors are not generally permitted to see her.

Aung San Suu Kyi represents the sufferings of her people who continue to suffer every imaginable depredation. Mass murder has been committed in Karen State where events can only be described as genocide in the technical and legal sense of the word. Often, groups of villagers are forced to clear landmines and act as human shields. Recently, people from 12 villages were forced to act as human shields around a bulldozer clearing a road of potential landmines. The Burmese army forced one person from each of the 55 households of a village to become human landmine sweepers. Elsewhere, 850 villagers were forced to carry supplies for the Burmese army and to act as human mine sweepers. The regime has a callous disregard for the lives of the people it enslaves. This year, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain was commemorated, but a system of slavery persists in many parts of the world, not least in Burma.

As a small country, Ireland must ask what it can do to try to play a part in undoing such cruelty and tyranny. To begin, we must ensure that the plight of the Burmese does not slip from our minds in the way such issues slip as soon as the media moves on and the circus moves to another town. The suffering of the Burmese will continue.

We must examine how the UN is functioning, as I agree with my colleague's comments on its ineffectual role. China and Russia blocked attempts by the UN Security Council to impose Western-led global sanctions. Instead, it made a watered down press statement urging restraint. Ireland must use its pester power and not be blinded by the economic attractions of dealing with large countries such as China, as I mentioned in another context. We must be a moral voice to ensure China and Russia place pressure on the Burmese Government to allow democratic reforms.

We must examine the European Union and the role played by the so-called democratic countries of western Europe in this story. I acknowledge Senator Norris's comments on the possible undesirability of Total, the French oil giant, withdrawing from Burma and leaving the field to China, but such arguments are an easy cop-out for the selfish interests of western governments. The EU has been divided in that some countries such as Britain and Ireland want to step up pressure on Burma by varying degrees. Other countries have opposed increasing pressure, not only for selfless reasons, but also selfish reasons. It behoves us to make every possible effort at UN and EU level to try to ensure a consistent and persistent response based on a common vision for the protection of human rights and dignity.