Statement from Áras an Uachtaráin on the occassion of the visit of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 18th June 2012
Date: Mon 18th Jun, 2012 | 15:49
President Michael D Higgins met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon. Afterwards President Higgins said,
“I was very pleased indeed to have had this opportunity to welcome Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Áras an Uachtaráin, as President of Ireland, and to hear directly her account of the challenges she now faces. I expressed the warm welcome and admiration, which is felt for her in this country and I congratulated her on the long overdue presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize, which she had been awarded in 1991, and recalled her being granted the Freedom of Dublin in 2000 and Galway in 2005.
At our meeting, I recalled her case being brought to my attention in 1989 through material that had been forwarded by Daw Suu Kyi’s late husband, Michael Aris. This formed the basis for my raising and pursuing her situation, and that of the people of Burma, in the Oireachtas in late 1989 and on through 1991 and succeeding years. I have continued to take a close personal interest in Daw Suu Kyi’s struggle since then and join with an international community that has welcomed her freedom to participate and respond to the political life of her people.
I wished Daw Suu Kyi every success with her Irish visit and her ongoing important work on behalf of the Burmese people, which enjoys the full support of the Irish people”