Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the South African ambassador, H.E. Azwindini Jeremiah Dingaan Ndou. I wish I had the eloquence to articulate or capture in words some of the essence of Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela, or simply "Madiba" or "Tata" to those who those knew him, sadly passed away last week. He was a man who dominated the end of the 20th century. He will be remembered across the world as one of the most remarkable, charismatic and principled leaders ever. Mandela first became politically active when he met Walter Sisulu, the ANC activist, while staying in the township in Johannesburg. He could have had a comfortable life with his family background and education but he could not sit idly by and watch the discrimination and State-sponsored oppression of the apartheid system. He was not prepared to live or be treated as a second-class citizen in his own land. It was on the occasion of Walter Sisulu's 90th birthday celebrations that Mandela said: "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead."

Throughout the 1950s, Mandela continued to rise through the ranks of the ANC youth league and finally ended up on the ANC national executive. Mandela had become convinced with others that the use of violence was justified in the battle to bring down apartheid. He received military training in Ethiopia in 1962, learning how to use automatic rifles, pistols, mortars, bombs and mines, and was trained in sabotage. He also travelled to Algeria in 1962 to receive guerilla training in the last days of that country's war against its former colonial ruler France. He was arrested in South Africa in August 1962 and later sentenced to life in prison. Thirty-two years ago, Mandela was moved and influenced by Bobby Sands, as were many young people of my generation. When Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike, Mandela sent a message of solidarity and support from his prison cell on Robben Island on the day of Sands's funeral. ANC members were also in attendance in Belfast on that historic day. Prisoners on Robben Island were later to use the hunger strike weapon to successfully improve their prison conditions. I am also told that a copy of "Nor Meekly Serve My Time", a book written by three former blanket men, also holds a place of honour in Madiba's study.

During his 27 years in prison, Mandela became a symbol of hope for the majority of the oppressed people in South Africa and those who laboured for freedom, equality and democracy all over the world. His struggle and aptitude was so wide that when violence and the oppression of the white minority in South Africa were at their peak, the echo of protest could be heard half a world away in Dublin's Henry Street at the Dunnes Stores picket. I am embarrassed to say that I proudly stood in the picket and supported that cause because it is a bit like people talking about 1916 and those who were in the GPO but numbers of people turned up and we shared the firm belief that an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Internationalism is important for every struggle. It brings recognition and allows the world to see injustice being carried out, but it also allows a sharing of experiences and success. While right-wing conservatives like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan labelled him a terrorist and David Cameron took part in the young Tories' "Hang Mandela" campaign, common men and women were marching, protesting and agitating for his release and the dismantling of the brutal apartheid regime. That historic day came when Mandela was elected as South Africa's first black president in 1994. The moment filled the world with hope and optimism. The rainbow nation was born.