‘Legacy will endu
JOHN HUME 1937-2020 Clinton and Higgins lead tributes to peacemaker beloved across the globe
POLITICAL leaders from around the world have paid tribute to John Hume and his tireless efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.
Former US President Bill Clinton yesterday said he would never forget his many memories of Hume.
‘Hillary and I are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend John Hume, who fought his long war for peace in Northern Ireland. His chosen weapons: an unshakeable commitment to nonviolence, persistence, kindness and love. With his enduring sense of honour, he kept marching on against all odds towards a brighter future for all the children of Northern Ireland,’ he said.
‘I’ll never forget our night in Derry in 1995, with the town square and blocks around full of hopeful faces, walking with him across the Peace Bridge nearly 20 years later, and all of the moments we shared in between.
‘His legacy will live on in every generation of Northern Ireland’s young people who make John’s choice to live free of the hatred and horror of sectarian violence.’
He said that Hume’s legacy ‘will endure in the hearts of those of us who loved him and will be shaped by his example to the end of our days. Our love and prayers are with Pat, their children and grandchildren. May he rest in peace, never losing the twinkle in his eye or the sly smile that lighted our lives.’
At home, President Higgins paid tribute to the ‘Nobel Peace Laureate and Statesman’.
‘His efforts were recognised through the awarding of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize brought great joy not only to his people in Derry, his colleagues in politics, particularly in the SDLP, but to a wider global set of colleagues and fellow advocates for peace abroad who held him in the greatest esteem and admiration,’ he said.
‘Mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, as President of Ireland, may I say how deeply grateful we all should be that we had such a person as John Hume to create a light of hope in the most difficult of times.
‘It was Seamus Mallon, that other great statesman and courageous peace seeker and builder, who observed: “Inside [John Hume] was a man who had something big to do. There is a greatness about his political life in what he did and what he helped to do. I would put him in the same breath as Parnell and Daniel O’Connell.”’
Mallon died in January. ‘We are grieving in this difficult year 2020 for two great apostles and seekers of peace,’ the President said. He extended his sympathy to Hume’s wife, his children, ‘and all those who loved him’,
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that Hume would go down in history as one of Ireland’s greatest leaders.
‘Today, we mourn the passing of one of Ireland’s greatest ever sons. He ranks alongside O’Connell and Parnell in the pantheon of Ireland’s great leaders. He was a patriot, a peacemaker, a democrat, and a great, great Derryman,’ he wrote.
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said: ‘There are no words that do the contribution John Hume has made to peace on our island justice.
‘So I pay tribute to him with his own words – words teaching tolerance, respect and inclusion. ’
The Catholic primate of Ireland, Eamon Martin, praised Hume, a former Maynooth seminarian, for bringing Catholic social teaching and non-violence into Northern Ireland politics.
‘I will always remember John’s commitment to peace, reconciliation, non-violence and social justice. He put Catholic social teaching into practice – sometimes at great personal cost and risk,’ the primate wrote.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney, said that everyone in Ireland ‘should bow our heads in respect and thanks. What an extraordinary man, peacemaker, politician, leader, civil rights campaigner, family man, Derryman, inspiration.’
Some of the most moving trib
‘He kept marching on against all odds’
utes came from the people of Derry, who saw Hume struggle with dementia in his final years.
Journalist Aoife Grace Moore recalled how the statesman was known for wandering to the Foyle river and how people would help him find a way home.
‘When John Hume first got dementia, he would still go on long walks, you’d always see him along the Foyle,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘As it progressed, people would walk with him to make sure he was alright. A few people I know walked him home.
‘John Hume looked after us, so Derry looked after him. RIP John.’
Her tribute received tens of thousands of ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments.
One man, Mal McCausland, wrote in response that he was one of the people who brought Mr Hume home.
‘I stopped on the Northland Road heading in the wrong direction. Gave him a lift home. “Do I know you?” he said. “Yes, you taught me
‘People I know walked him home’
history at the College,” I replied.’
Derry actress Roma Downey, who grew up in the city’s Bogside before eventually moving to Los Angeles, also paid tribute.
‘Just waking up in California to learn that John Hume has passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with Pat and the family. John was a great personal friend as well a great friend of Ireland. R.I.P.,’ the Touched By An Angel star wrote.
Current SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who now holds the Foyle Westminster seat his political hero occupied for 22 years, said the island of Ireland had lost one of its greatest figures.
‘In the days ahead, Ireland will be united in mourning his loss,’ he said. ‘However, amidst that national mourning, it is equally true that the marking of John’s death also opens up a space to reflect on, and celebrate, the magnitude of his life.
‘As part of that reflection of John’s work, never has the beati