Galway is to award the freedom of the city to Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Mayor of Galway Catherine Connolly (Lab) said she was "very proud" the city council had agreed unanimously to confer the honour at a special ceremony in June.
Ms Suu Kyi will mark her 60th birthday under house arrest on June 19th, having been confined in Rangoon for 10 years over her non-violent struggle for peace and democracy.
A close relative will receive the award on her behalf in Galway two days before her birthday, on June 17th.
Last year, Irish plans to establish diplomatic relations with Burma, renamed Myanmar by its military junta, were put on hold because of the continued failure by the authorities to release Ms Suu Kyi from house arrest.
The activist, who returned to look after her ailing mother, led the National League of Democracy to victory in 1990 general election, but the military regime ignored the results.
Ms Suu Kyi has survived physical abuse, deprivation of food, two assassination attempts and she was not allowed to leave Burma when her husband, English academic Michael Aris, died in 1999.
She has not seen her two sons, Alexander and Kim, for many years. Ms Suu Kyi has received a number of international awards, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. A CD dedicated to her will be released by musician Damien Rice on the same day as the Galway ceremony.
