Maurice Hayes (Independent)

It is a great personal pleasure to welcome my old friend John Hume to the House. I will not go over the ground that has already been covered, except to endorse what has been said. I was particularly touched by Senator Ryan's tribute, which represents my own feelings about Mr. Hume more than anything else. I think of him as one of the great standard bearers of Irish parliamentary democracy. I would put him on a par with Daniel O'Connell in his commitment to the democratic process against all other approaches, including violence.

I am sure I am the only person in the House who saw Mr. Hume operating as a Minister in the power-sharing executive. He was first class at it. I remember sitting in the darkness one night in the middle of the Ulster Workers' Council strike. We were waiting for the people who were tearing down the properly elected post-Sunningdale executive by their own violent means to allow us 20 minutes of power during which to boil a kettle. There I was, sitting with Mr. Hume, the Minister for light. Even at that darkest hour he was talking about the new Ireland, the new Europe and how things could be improved for everybody. That is the enduring characteristic of Mr. Hume's career — he never cursed the darkness, but lit a candle instead. In doing so he gave enormous encouragement to many people who were deeply oppressed at the time. He showed them ways out through the civil rights movement. By his own great physical and moral courage in continuing to operate in those circumstances, he provided encouragement to so many others.

He redefined nationalism for all of us in terms which made it compatible with the 20th century and also in terms which led to the possibility of a settlement on this island. His abjuration of lines on maps in favour of lines in people's hearts and minds is the key. He is right that, in many cases, the violence of the past 30 years made it more difficult than it otherwise would have been to heal those divisions and achieve the ends we all want of a secure and happy modus vivendi on this island. There is a danger that, in continuing with the encomiums, we may forget what Mr. Hume said to us today. We should keep thinking about his seminal remarks.

I am glad Senator Dardis paid tribute to Mrs. Pat Hume also. All too often, we forget the sacrifices that are made by the wives and families of great men, which keep them going. I hope he will get time to rest and enjoy things with his family and that he will come back to the Seanad as a wise man — a sort of magus in this society — to help us to deal with the great issues and problems of the day.

Senator Brian Hayes suggested that, in his response, Mr. Hume might discuss how we could deal with the current situation. I would like him to consider how we might deal with two great problems. First, how do we bind up the wounds of society, particularly in the North? I have great suspicions of what I call the memory industry and I get worried when people talk about expunging records on one side, which I can see arguments for, while at the same time crying out for the fullest judicial investigations. How do we deal with that issue? Second, since Mr. Hume is a European at heart and has been instrumental in the development of a constituency for Europe in this country, how would he suggest we begin to move the Irish people from being net recipients of EU aid to being net contributors?

It is an enormous pleasure and a privilege to have heard Mr. Hume's address to the House and to have played a small part in paying tribute to what he has done for this country and for his fellow people.