Joe O'Toole (Independent)

On behalf of the Independent benches, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Mr. Hume to the House. It has always been a continuing difficulty which I have discussed with Mr. Hume on many occasions that because he has had so many titles, we never knew whether to call him the Right Honourable, or my honourable friend, or Excellency. I have always tended to irritate people by referring to him as my constituent, Mr. John Hume. I have been a diligent NUI voter over those periods and it was many years ago that Mr. Hume took me to that bridge at the side of the European Parliament, pointed out across the two rivers and explained to me that very point which is the fundamental of the European project. I have never forgotten it and it was long before I became a Member of this House.

What we heard today, which is hugely and crucially important, were the steps and milestones of an extraordinary career devoted to the development of peace on this island. The basic principles have always been to never allow a political vacuum to develop, of introducing the concept of parity of esteem at a time when there was no market for it, which was John Hume's by-line, and the concept beyond that of accommodating difference, which was the manner in which he showed the way forward on both sides. More than anything else, John Hume reduced the Border to a psychological barrier, and he said that again today. It is the abiding memory people will have.

The point of his career we will remember is the way he conducted his business. He outlined his vision and saw the objective, and his direction was informed by both. The way he did that was through people power, through the harnessing of the will of ordinary people, by keeping his finger on the pulse of ordinary people, by giving direction, by using democratic structures, by harnessing those at political levels, by ensuring there was a strategy going forward and by doing so in a peaceful way which brought the majority with him so many times against the odds. He never recognised the odds but always saw the objective and the bigger picture. In that sense, what he has delivered makes him the Gandhi of this island. It is a legacy which will continue and which continues to inform the way we think.