NOBEL peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has previously visited Northern Ireland and spoke of the similarities of the divisions in the north with Myanmar.
Ms Suu Kyi (75), once hailed as an "outstanding example of the power of the powerless", was reportedly detained yesterday along with unknown numbers of democratic politicians as part of a military coup.
British prime minister Boris Johnson criticised the "unlawful imprisonment of civilians", after its leader Ms Suu Kyi was arrested.
Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney also said the recent elections in Myanmar were "an important step in the democratic transition of Myanmar and clear expression of the desire of the Myanmar people for a democratic future".
He said the actions taken "do nothing to tackle the public health, security or economic issues facing the people of Myanmar".
Ms Suu Kyi previously spent almost 15 years under house arrest in a battle to bring democracy to the then-military ruled Myanmar. Her struggles made her an international beacon for human rights and a symbol of peaceful resistance - winning her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
In 2013, she travelled to Northern Ireland and met with political leaders, police and school children.
She said at the time that she was visiting the north to listen and ask questions, because in her homeland during 50 years of military rule questions were not encouraged.
During a visit to Wellington College in south Belfast, she said: "The main reason I have come to Northern Ireland is to learn about how you managed to negotiate a peace process in spite of all the difficulties.
"It is very useful. What we have learned here I think will help us a great deal back in Burma.
"I want to see from you how you see your present day problems because I am told the work is not done."
Her father General Aung San was also involved in important events leading up to Burma's independence from British rule alongside Lord Mountbatten, who was killed by an IRA bomb in Co Sligo in 1979.
Ms Suu Kyi also studied philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh's College, Oxford between 1964 and 1967, before settling in the university city with her late husband Michael Aris, a Tibetan scholar.
She returned to her homeland in 1988 to care for her mother, before being placed under house arrest by the ruling military which feared the influence of a woman whose father was instrumental in gaining Burma's freedom from British rule.
