Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position in relation to the incarceration of Aug San Suu Kyi in Myanmar; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41944/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As I have stated in this House on many occasions, I deplore the fact that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention for more than 14 of the last 20 years and that she was sentenced in August to a further 18 months of house arrest, following her conviction on the most spurious of charges. Ireland, and the EU more broadly have for many years called for her release and we will continue to do so.

It has long appeared that the military regime wish to keep her in detention and to silence her in the lead-up to the elections which they are planning to hold next year. The discredited Constitution they pushed through by referendum last year disqualifies her – and many leading members of the opposition – from running for election but, despite her years in detention, she retains influence and moral authority among her people. I was pleased that Aung San Suu Kyi was permitted in recent times to meet with three western Heads of Mission in Rangoon, even if that meeting was strictly supervised and controlled by the Burmese authorities. I was even more pleased that a US team, led by Assistant Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, was able to hold open discussions with her over a two-hour period, without supervision and in a location of their choosing.

It would be most welcome, indeed, if these developments are representative of a change of policy on the part of the regime and indicate new-found willingness to work for national reconciliation and greater democracy. No action could speak more eloquently in this regard than the release Aung San Suu Kyi.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has made representations to the United States Administration of President Obama regarding extraordinary rendition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41928/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to the statement made by An Taoiseach in the Dáil on 1 April last after the visit he and I made to Washington over the St Patrick's Day period. In response to a question as to whether he had raised the matter of Extraordinary Rendition with President Obama, he referred to the assurances received from the US that Ireland was not being used by the US as a transit point for extraordinary rendition, and that, based on those assurances, it would not be right to raise the matter. This remains the position. The US Administration has been made aware that extraordinary rendition though an Irish airport would be illegal under Irish law and there are currently no plans to raise the issue further with the United States Administration.