Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a thabhairt do chlann an iar-Uachtarán Mandela, do Uachtarán Zuma, do mhuintir na hAfraice Theas agus do phobal na hAfraice in Éirinn. Nelson Mandela, Madiba, was truly remarkable. He was a freedom fighter, political prisoner, negotiator, healer, peace maker, father, grandfather and husband. He was a friend to those engaged in struggle for justice across the globe. He believed in Ubuntu - chreid sé gur ár scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. He was a friend to the people of Ireland and many people here were his friends, particularly the heroic Dunne Stores strikers who took a stand when those in power did not.

The injustice of apartheid was an obscenity to humanity. Interestingly, given our own experience, the former South African Prime Minister, John Vorster, once famously said he would swap apartheid legislation for one clause of the infamous Special Powers Act in the North.

The ANC was banned, censored and its political actions were crushed. In the 1950s and early 1960s, ANC activists debated how best to challenge the state. Speaking of that period, Madiba 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 conditions demanded that we should depart from non-violence, we would do so.

He came to the opinion that the ANC had no alternative but armed and violent resistance. Those are his words, not mine. In 1961, along with Walter Sisulu and Jo Slovo, Madiba co-founded and became chairman of the armed organisation, Spear of the Nation, known as MK. MK engage in military actions against the South African regime through his period of imprisonment and following his release.

In prison for those decades, Madiba maintained his international perspective. In his cell, in common with all political prisoners, he was allowed a calendar on which he marked significant events. On 5 May 1981, he wrote a simple single line: "IRA martyr, Bobby Sands, dies". That was a hand-written tribute on a paper calendar on a cell wall in South Africa, which recognises the bond of those who struggle for justice. His note on that prison wall is recognition of the courage and self sacrifice of the ten republican hunger strikers of our time. Walter Sisulu later told me that all the ANC prisoners marked and commemorated each of the hunger strikers who died, including Kieran Doherty T.D.

Today the world is in mourning. The people of South Africa have lost their leader and father. Humanity has lost our greatest statesman. Madiba was a leader who by his courage demonstrated that it is possible to reconcile differences. By his example, he showed us that it is possible to build peace out of conflict - something we tried to do on our own island - that a better and more equal future based on fairness is possible, and that unity can be forged out of division.

In the hard years when the western powers were against him, when he was vilified as a terrorist and denounced as a criminal, he kept the faith. He showed perseverance and vision. There are lessons in all of this for us but particularly for the people of the island of Ireland of all persuasions as we continue the necessary and challenging task of building the peace.

I first saw Nelson Mandela when he visited Dublin in 1990. That was the day when the Irish soccer team returned home. When he appeared, a section of the crowd began to chant "Oo, ah, Paul McGrath's da". So the good humour of Ireland shone through.

In 1995, I and several other Sinn Féin activists travelled to South Africa at the invitation of the ANC to speak to senior figures who had been centrally involved in the process of negotiations. That was when I met Madiba for the first time. One of the first demonstrations I ever attended was in Dublin against apartheid and the visit of the Springboks rugby team. I have been a long-time supporter of the anti-apartheid movement, so I was delighted to be meeting with one of my heroes.

During the conflict there was also a close working relationship between Irish republicans and the ANC. The late Kadar Asmal did tremendous work here in the leadership of the Irish anti-apartheid movement, along with his wife Louise. He was not a supporter of the IRA. In his book, which was mentioned by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, Kadar told how the IRA provided practical training, advice and assistance with military operations to MK. Kadar said that the famous attack of 31 May 1980 on the Sasol oil refinery near Johannesburg was carried out with the assistance of the Irish Republican Army.

Walter Sisulu, Cyril Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki, Ronnie Kasrils and many others in the ANC leadership were pleased to remember the long commitment of Irish republicans to their cause, as was Madiba himself. For our group the highlight of the intense process of meetings was with Madiba. He was self-effacing, modest, totally relaxed and very focused. He was also tough, stubborn, determined and committed as he needed to be to survive apartheid, and to survive over two and a half decades in prison with hard labour. He was immovable on core principles, issues and values, but pragmatic on tactics and other matters.

It is also interesting that the British Government at the time laboured and lobbied hard for Madiba not to meet with me, for what that is worth. When it was clear that the ANC and Madiba were determined that the visit would go ahead, the British Government lobbied that there should be no handshake or photograph. He ignored them. Along with other Sinn Féin representatives, I have been privileged and greatly honoured to have met Madiba many times after that in South Africa, here in Ireland and in Britain.

Pribhléid agus onóir mór a bhí ann dom. He was hugely supportive of the Irish peace process. On several occasions when visiting Ireland activists from the ANC and former MK went into prisons and talked with Republican prisoners about the peace process. Nelson Mandela had an enormous depth of understanding of the twists and turns of our process and knew that there was an onus upon Governments as well as those involved in struggle to resolve issues. He believed, as I and all thinking people believe, that there is an onus to create the necessary environment for peaceful solutions.

Despite his age and, when I last met with him, increased physical frailty his mind was as sharp as a razor. He was conversant in world affairs, affairs on his own continent, the injustice of the wars in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. He was a very remarkable human being. I mo thuairim, ba é Nelson Mandela ceann de na ceannairí is fearr a raibh ann ariamh. Mar a deir an t-amhrán: "Sé mo laoch, Mo Ghile Mear".

All of us remember the Special Olympics in Ireland in 2003. It was a wonderful ócáid galánta. When I met Nelson Mandela after that event he was as taken by all of the young athletes with whom he had met during the course of that great event as he was about issues to do with the North and the need for Governments to move on the necessary business of building peace.

He will continue to inspire. He will continue in death, as he did in life, to encourage oppressed people everywhere. In this way, his legacy will live on. One does not have to be a Nelson Mandela or Madiba to do the small things that make things better for those who suffer from injustice and deprivation and do not have freedom. If we all did that in a small way then heroes like Nelson Mandela would not have had to do the big things they had to do.

Walter Sisulu was a wonderful man and a life-long conspirator, political prisoner and comrade of Nelson Mandela. Anyone who has the time to do so should read Mandela's farewell to him when he died, one line of which states: "Go well, rest in peace Madiba, hero among heroes". Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

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