Dan Boyle (Green Party)

With this motion the House speaks with one voice in expressing its strong support for the efforts of the Government to date. We are in line with most free-thinking countries regarding what should happen, but we wonder what will change. After the headlines fade away, there is a danger of slipping back into the same situation as that seen after 1988 when the Burmese people tried to make their feelings known and after the 1990 elections. Burma has a closed and clandestine society where the junta performing government tasks has existed since 1962, all of my life. There is little sign that the efforts of the international community can bring about the necessary changes.

We should be grateful for the way in which this motion has been worded. It does not refer to the Government of Burma, rather it refers explicitly to the military junta. Ireland does not have diplomatic relations with Burma and will not until Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are released and some semblance of democratic normality is achieved. The motion refers to the wishes of the Burmese. As Senator Norris stated, the main difference between this year's events and those in 1988 is technology, which allows us to see the nature of the repression. The longer those of us in the outside world allow the repression to continue, the greater the onus on us to bring about necessary changes.

Reference has been made to the stronger commitments made by organisations such as ASEAN and the EU and comments from China, to which Burma is a client state. However, they are just words. Senator Mullen referred to the weak position of the EU in implementing effective economic sanctions due to the French Government's role and the Total situation. If Ireland wants to exert moral authority as a small country and as a part of the international organisations of which it is a member, we cannot stand over a double standard of discussing what must happen while facilitating less than effective action. There is an onus on us to ensure talk stops and effective action begins. We must consider how this Chamber and country can do so.

Many people should give ongoing support and commitment to the work of Burma Action Ireland. Efforts have been made to inform elected representatives of events in Burma. Last year, the prime minister in exile visited Ireland and was met by many Members. Such avenues should be further strengthened. Unlike the Middle East and Tibet, Burma is not the subject of an Oireachtas parliamentary support group. That simple action would not only ensure debates of this nature and the monitoring of the Burmese situation, but also effective interparliamentary action in trying to bring about possible changes. For example, Senator Cummins referred to Senator Buttimer's attendance of last week's meeting of the International Parliamentary Union. Ireland is a member of the EU and the Organisation for Security Co-Operation in Europe. Each body at which there is parliamentary representation should receive an Irish input via Members to ensure Burma's cause is heard and to alleviate its situation.

Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest has been referred to. She has witnessed appalling deprivations in terms of the military junta's abuse of her country and her personal situation, namely, her family's absence and her husband's death in exile. In political terms, she represents someone akin to Nelson Mandela and is an embodiment of democratic values who deserves and needs the support of we who describe ourselves as democrats. Often, such support is discussed and not readily given in physical and practical terms. If this debate is to have any purpose, as well-worded as the motion is, we should continue to identify with Aung San Suu Kyi's personal situation. Through the efforts of our Government not only should we use the international arena available to us, we should also identify practical means by which her situation, and that of her people, can be changed. I would not like to see us return to issues of this nature regularly because we would be letting her and the Burmese people down by engaging in some type of looped debate which does nothing to change the plight of Burma and its people. I appeal to Senators to work collectively to identify those means.