Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an gCeannaire as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dúinn labhairt ar Nelson Mandela, Madiba, an ceannaire iontach domhanda atá imithe ar shlí na fírinne. Guímid suaimhneas síoraí ar a anam agus gach rath ar a chlann, ar mhuintir na hAfraice Theas agus ar dhuine ar bith ar fud an domhain a raibh baint acu leis.

There is no point in me reiterating some of the incredible eulogies that have been given to Nelson Mandela but, perhaps, I can give a different perspective on some of his life and some of his work. Much of the discourse I have heard, particularly in the Houses and in the Irish media, has tended to focus on when Mandela left prison and to forget about much of what happened while he was in prison and before that. He was a freedom fighter and he would say that himself but he was demonised by many political parties and leaders for many a long year when in prison and before that. It is right that we recognise the role he played in bringing about peace in South Africa but we need to look at where he came from and the system in which he lived. It was an apartheid system. I note my own leader in the other House said that the injustice of apartheid was an obscenity, an obscenity to humanity. In terms of our own experience - he was speaking about the Six Counties - Vorster, an apartheid minister in South Africa once said, famously, that he would swap all of the apartheid laws for one clause of the infamous Special Powers Act in the North.

We have to remember that the ANC, of which Mandela was a leader, was banned, censored and political actions were quashed. That is the reason he had to be so strong in his leadership. In the 1950s and early 1960s ANC activists debated how best to challenge the state. Speaking of that period, Manela said: "We have always believed in non-violence as a tactic. Where conditions demanded that we should use non-violence we would do so, where the conditions demanded that we should depart from non-violence we would do so". He also came to the opinion that the ANC had no alternative to armed and violent resistance. They were his words, not mine.

In 1961 with Walter Sisulu and Joe Slovo, Madeba co-founded and became chairman of the armed organisation Umkhonto we Sizwe, "Spear of the Nation", known as MK. MK engaged in military actions against the South African regime through the period of his imprisonment and following his release. It would be interesting if we could get Madeba's thoughts on the Irish situation at present. I believe many of the South African politicians have a much better understanding of the complications and the situation in the North than many of our Irish politicians.

I do not say that with any disrespect for my colleagues, but I believe Mandela's reading of the situation was shown in the way he supported the hunger strikers when in his cell on Robben Island and marked on his calendar, on 5 May 1981, that IRA martyr Bobby Sands had died. He was not as quick as some to jump to conclusions or to judge members of my party or others involved with the republican struggle, for example. He also pushed for peace and reconciliation. That is shown in the link the ANC has traditionally had with Sinn Féin. It is a great honour for us to have, at every Ard-Fheis, a speaker from the ANC. It is shown also by the fact that my party leader, Deputy Gerry Adams, has been invited to the full funeral in South Africa. He is going to attend on our behalf.

It is time to end the revisionism associated with what is taking place. We need to debate the past, but we need to debate all aspects of it. It is hypocritical of the Irish establishment to eulogise Nelson Mandela on the one hand while, on the other, demonising people on this island who fought in the republican struggle.