Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for arranging this debate. I agree with everything that has been said by previous speakers. We honour an amazing hero for our times. When Nelson Mandela received his honorary degree in TCD, the Public Orator, Professor Luce, started with a quote from Lord Tennyson:

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand...

He described how, bereaved by the death of his father at a relatively young age, Nelson Mandela had been raised in the excellent formal education system in Methodist schools. That branch of Christianity was shown in the way in which Nelson Mandela was such a brilliant orator, a great humanitarian and a humorist. In recent days people have said that when he rang Buckingham Palace, he said, "Hello, Elizabeth, how is the Duke?" He had a warmth that impressed President Obama, President Clinton and everybody who met him. We think of his long spell of imprisonment. As John Luce put it:

During the long harsh term of his imprisonment he never lowered the stubborn guard of the Xhosa boxer, nor did the good hope of the gardener fail him. In the face of heavier oppression he clenched his fist the firmer, and when at last a milder voice was heard, he was quick to proffer the hand of reconciliation. He had known the loneliness of the leader but never failed to smooth the way forward for his followers by the eloquence of his words and the wisdom of his advice.

Eloquence and oratory were restored by Nelson Mandela.

We remember the wonderful gestures, him liaising with the Springboks rugby team which would have been a strong bastion of apartheid and wearing the Springboks shirt for the World Cup final. I think everybody in the world hoped South Africa would beat New Zealand that day and it did. Nelson Mandela wrote to the captain of the team afterwards saying it had been a great day. We all know how sport can bring people together.

I was very pleased earlier when the current officers of the students' union came for the Order of Business. They liked Nelson Mandela so much that when he was still in jail, they named their building after him. I think in the era when all visiting rugby teams trained in the college park before international matched they asked the Springboks not to train there because it was a racially divided team. We were delighted to honour him and he honoured us by his address on 2 July 1990.

We have had great orators visit the Houses, including John F. Kennedy whose speech is still repeated, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. It is interesting that in the alcove we have pictures of the leaders from the Antipodes who addressed the Oireachtas, Nelson Mandela, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. We realise that sometimes we run ourselves down, but Nelson Mandela built us up and praised us for our complete rejection of the apartheid crime against humanity: "...your support to us for our endeavours to transform South Africa into an united democratic non racial and non sexist country, your love and respect for our movement and the millions of people it represents." In praising Ireland he said: "We know that your desire that the disenfranchised of our country should be heard in this House and throughout Ireland derives from your determination, born of your experience, that our people, should like yourselves, be free to govern themselves and determine their destiny." He referred to the Proclamation of 1916 and said, as Senator Jillian van Turnhout has said, that we should cherish all of the people equally. He quoted a former Member of this House who had said: "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart" - it never did with him, which was one of his greatest characteristics - "We are in a struggle because we value life and love all humanity." He looked forward when people would be free to join any political party and have a multi-party political system. He also praised President F. W. de Klerk who might be forgotten, but it took him and Nelson Mandela to deliver a multiracial and multicultural society which they were able to accomplish. We also should remember Mr. de Klerk today. During Nelson Mandela's address he said:

We, therefore, salute your sportspeople, especially the rugby players, your writers and artists and Dunnes' and other workers. They will not be forgotten by the masses of our people.

We thank Nelson Mandela and will not forget him either for a very long time. The then Ceann Comhairle said:

Mr. Mandela, it is now my great privilege to offer you the profound thanks of this House for your most inspiring address which we will long remember. Thank you also for your kind remarks about us.

This was a man who made the world a better place and I am delighted this House is acknowledging him. May he be in his heavenly abode, where I am sure he is already. It is richly deserved.