Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was with great sadness that we learned last week of the passing of Nelson Mandela - a global icon, a true champion of people of all nations and without question the greatest statesman of our generation. The mark he left on our world is indelible. His epic battle against injustice and discrimination is a powerful reminder of our responsibilities to stand up for what is right. Today, we can acknowledge a man whose name has come to represent the qualities of dignity and freedom and all that is right and good. His life was an example of forgiveness - not revenge - and was, therefore, an investment in trust and the future.

I was present in this Chamber when he addressed a joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas on his visit to Ireland in 1990 just six months after his release from prison after 27 years. On that day, speaking in the Chamber, he showed no bitterness, no resentment and no hostility towards the regime that had denied him his freedom and denied his fellow South Africans their basic human rights. Instead, on that July afternoon, his message was one of hope for a better future for South Africa and love for his fellow man.

It was also one of gratitude to the Irish people for the welcome he had received but, above all else, for their wholehearted and often sacrificial support for the anti-apartheid movement. Indeed, he referenced our own past struggles as a country, all the while hopeful that the South African people too would have a country which, as he said, will, as the great Irish patriots said in the Proclamation of 1916, "Cherish all the children of the nation equally". He also referenced W. B. Yeats - "too long a sacrifice can make a stone of a heart" - and his refusal to allow that to be the case.

We recognise today, as did he, the 11 Dunnes Stores workers who saw the injustices at that time and who, despite great personal sacrifice in their young lives, did something about it. We can be proud today of the fact that Ireland pushed for and achieved EU sanctions against apartheid South Africa as well as forcing decolonisation and the fight against apartheid to the top of the UN agenda. The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, founded by Kader Asmal, was one of the most vocal and active chapters of the anti-apartheid movement globally. We should also be proud of all the Irish missionaries in apartheid South Africa who educated and cared for black South Africans when their Government had neglected them and failed to provide basic services.

So, on that beautiful day in July, Nelson Mandela expressed his appreciation to the Irish people for the solidarity and the assistance they gave to the people of South Africa in their struggle against the evil of apartheid. Today, we can be grateful to this giant among men who showed us so much, but most of all the incredible strength of the human spirit. That bar has now been raised even further by his lifetime of achievements. Indeed, I am reminded of the words of another great pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi, who stated: "I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills".

The long march to freedom has ended for the baby who was born in the year that the Great War ended. I recall his invocation to the Springbok team before its rugby world cup victory as a demonstration of the unity of the Africa nation. I recall his taking the hand of F. W. de Klerk in doing business on behalf of South Africa, in banishing the apartheid regime and in preventing civil war. I recall his meetings with kings, queens, leaders and politicians of all descriptions from all over the world, but I recall in particular his birthday celebration with 2,000 disabled children. I recall his ease with people in recognising that his own work was almost done. I suppose we can all recognise his journey in the words of William Ernest Henley in his poem "Invictus":

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

He finished the poem by saying:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Slán abhaile, Madiba.

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