Dunnes Stores faced a call last night for a boycott of its outlets following allegations that it is selling clothes produced in a state-run factory in Burma, one of the world's most repressive regimes. The call was made by Ms Patricia McKenna, a Green Party MEP, as Dunnes promised to end links with Burma if the allegations turn out to be true. Ms McKenna said the company should be boycotted until it could categorically prove that it no longer traded with repressive regimes.
She also called on the Government to impose trade sanctions on Burma. "It is inexcusable for Ireland to wait for EU approval before taking a moral position against Burma's repressive regime," she said.
The Green Party spokesman on finance and social welfare, Mr Dan Boyle, urged the Government to draft ethical trading laws.
On RTE television last night footage filmed by British freelance reporters showed Burmese factory workers packaging shirts bearing the "St Bernard" brand name used by Dunnes.
The pictures were taken secretly in Military Factory No 1 near Rangoon, by reporters posing as potential investors. Workers there typically earn about 50p for a 12hour day. The factory is run as a fund-raising operation by the ruling military regime, known as State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
A spokesman for Dunnes said yesterday the company had no direct dealings with Burma, and no knowledge of the political situation there. He said one of Dunnes' suppliers, a UK-based company called Unimix, was known to have a share in a joint venture in Burma.
Dunnes had started its own investigations following media inquiries over the weekend. These were not yet complete. "If the allegations made are proved correct, the company will instruct its agents to immediately and irrevocably cease trading with this factory and any other factory found to be operating on a similar basis," the spokesman said.
It was company policy that "any employees engaged in manufacturing any products sold in Dunnes Stores are working in proper humane working conditions", he added. Asked if the company was prepared to end any links with Burma, even if indirect, the spokesman said it would.
An estimated 800,000 Burmese people are forced to work in labour camps and factories, many of them children. More than 2,000 human rights activists are in detention. Meanwhile, the country's democratically elected President, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, remains a prisoner in her own house.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, described Burma yesterday as the only Asian country "where the state and society are fundamentally at odds" and whose government "protects and profits from the drug trade".
