At the European Parliament, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (Speaker of Parliament of Ireland), Verona Murphy. The parties discussed support for Belarus and ways to make Irish MPs’ cooperation with Belarus’s democratic forces even more practical.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya noted her appreciation for Ireland’s support and the attention that Irish MPs have paid to Belarus. She and Ms. Murphy discussed the need to turn this support into even more practical joint action.
The “For a Democratic Belarus” Group in Dáil Éireann will send a representative to the next meeting of the international alliance of such parliamentary groups in Oslo. This will allow Irish MPs to share their experience of supporting Belarus and learn from the practices of their counterparts in other countries.
Ms. Murphy and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also discussed the work of the MPs who have joined the Libereco campaign of symbolic godparenthood for political prisoners in Belarus. These MPs form one of the largest groups in the Irish Parliament. The discussion addressed the idea of an international forum of such symbolic godparents that could bring together MPs from different countries around support for political prisoners in Belarus.
Another agreement was for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to visit Dublin this fall. The Belarusian leader intends to both meet with representatives of the Irish Government and continue working with Dáil Éireann.
“We appreciate that Belarus remains on the agenda of the Irish Parliament. Even more importantly, we want this support to be more than symbolic and translate into concrete action. I am confident that our partnership will only grow stronger”, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya noted.
