Suu Kyi in Dublin for brief visit

ALISON HEALY
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will inform Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of his wish to see the realease of political prisoners and of the the support that Ireland is ready to give to a reformed and democratised Burma, he said today.
Mr Gilmore was due to greet Ms Suu Kyi at Dublin airport when she arrived for a tightly scheduled six-hour visit at 3pm.
He will hold a short meeting with the Nobel laureate, and said he would inform her of "the very strong support there is in Ireland for her, the stand she has taken, the admiration she is held in by Irish people and the Irish Government’s wish to see progress made in Burma in relation to human rights and democratic freedoms".
The Tánaiste said some progress had been made in Burma, which was welcome - including elections to parliament and freedom to travel outside the country. "But we need to see more done and in particlar I will be telling her about my wish to see the release of political prisoners and also about the support that Ireland is ready to give to a reformed and democratised Burma."
Thousands of people are expected to fill Grand Canal Square in Dublin this evening to see Ms Suu Kyi.
The Burmese pro-democracy leader is visiting Dublin on foot of an invitation from the lawyer Bill Shipsey, who founded Amnesty International’s artist-engagement programme.
She will collect an Amnesty award and sign the Roll of Honorary Freedom of Dublin during her six-hour visit.
Ms Suu Kyi was under house arrest or in prison for 15 of the last 24 years until her release last November. The human rights campaigner is visiting Europe for the first time since 1988.
Ms Suu Kyi was due to be met Mr Gilmore and a delegation from Ireland’s Burmese community at the airport. Following a brief private meeting with Mr Gilmore she will go to Áras an Uachtaráin where she will meet President Michael D Higgins at 3.40pm.
She is due to arrive at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for the sold-out Electric Burma concert at 4.45pm.
During the concert, Ms Suu Kyi will be presented with the Ambassador of Conscience Award by U2’s Bono. The award was announced in Dublin at a U2 concert in July 2009 while she was under house arrest.
The peace and democracy campaigner will leave the theatre at 8.30pm for Grand Canal Square. This event is free and open to the public. A number of bands will entertain the crowd from 7pm.
Amnesty International Ireland’s executive director, Colm O’Gorman, said the crowd that welcomed her would be sending a message of hope and solidarity to her supporters in Burma.
“We will be telling them that we stood with Aung San Suu Kyi when she was in prison, that she inspires us much as she inspires them. And now that she is free, we will continue to stand with her and to support the struggle for justice, freedom and human rights in Myanmar.”
She will sign the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin at the invitation of Lord Mayor Andrew Montague and will address the crowd. Councillor Montague said it was “a great honour for Dublin” that Ms Suu Kyi was visiting the city.
When the Freedom of the City was conferred on Ms Suu Kyi on March 18th, 2000, the award was accepted on her behalf by her son Kim.
She will leave for Dublin Airport at 9pm to fly to England.
On Saturday she visited Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize, some 21 years after it was awarded. She said that when she heard she had won the prize in 1991, she knew the Burmese people were not going to be forgotten.
“What the Nobel Peace Prize did was to draw me once again into the world of other human beings outside the isolated area in which I lived, to restore a sense of reality to me,” she told the crowd, led by Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja, at Oslo City Hall.