A BUST of Nobel Peace laureate John Hume has been unveiled in Washington.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin who is in the US capital as part of an itinerary to mark St Patrick’s Day, unveiled the bust on Tuesday, and also announced the Irish Government is to contribute €20 million to a cross-border peace fund.
The bust was designed by sculptor Elizabeth O Kane, and its unveiling was attended by other members of the Hume family and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who gathered at the residence of Daniel Mulhall, Ireland's Ambassador to the USA.
Mr Martin described the former SDLP leader and civil rights campaigner as “a great Irishman who devoted his life to his community, to his country and to the international cause of peace and reconciliation”.
“John was a force of nature who used his immense energy and talents as a relentless servant in the cause of civil rights, peace and reconciliation,” Mr Martin added.
“At the darkest moments of the conflict, he provided irreplaceable leadership, never losing faith that justice and peace would prevail.
“There is simply no doubt that without John Hume providing the roadmap, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 would have been impossible.”
Pribhléid ab ea é dealbh de John Hume a nochtadh i ngairdín áras na hAmbasáide inniu i Washington DC. Cuimhnímis ar John agus Pat, agus orthu siúd go léir a oibríonn go tréan ar son na síochána. #Ukraine @IrelandEmbUSA @HumeFoundation @LizOKane1 #SnaG22 #StPatricksDay22 pic.twitter.com/t0wZaNo5pX
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 15, 2022
During his speech, the the Taoiseach also announced further funding for International Fund for Ireland’s ‘Connecting Communities’ Strategy.
The fund - established by the British and Irish Governments as an independent international organisation in 1986 – contributes to a number of schemes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in a bid to tackle sectarianism.
“Over the past thirty five years, the Fund has painstakingly built up trust with some of the most marginalised communities in Northern Ireland and in the six southern border counties,”he said.
He described it as having the ability to make a “real difference to the lives of people who have been directly affected by decades of political unrest and economic instability.”
