On the 7th of June 2022, a bust of former MEP John Hume was unveiled in Strasbourg by President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The bust, created by Dublin-based sculptor Liz O’Kane, commemorates a man who played an crucial role in the rise of the civil rights movement and the peace process in Northern Ireland, and who served as MEP for twenty-five years.

Inauguration of the bust of John Hume, politician from Northern Ireland and former European Parliament Member, in the presence of Roberta Metsola, EP President and Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland © European Union 2022 – European Parliament

Who was John Hume?

Throughout his life, John Hume sought to improve the circumstances of the people of Northern Ireland. Born just a decade and a half after the partition of Northern Ireland, close to the border with the Republic of Ireland in the city of Derry, Hume hoped for a united Ireland. He saw, however, that neither unification nor any lasting peace could be achieved without cooperation between the two major communities in Northern Ireland, unionist and nationalist. While working as a schoolteacher, he drove forward a wide range of actions to improve the economic circumstances of his community, believing that they were capable of improving their own prospects.

This activism within his community soon saw Hume propelled to a leading role in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, leading to his election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) that he co-founded was also part of a short-lived power-sharing government in 1973 that ultimately collapsed by 1974 and was replaced by direct rule from London for more than two decades. Hume became that of Member of the European Parliament in 1979, a seat he would hold for twenty-five years.

With killings a part of everyday life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Hume argued incessantly that violence was not the means to bring about the unification of Ireland, but rather that understanding and respecting each other's differences was the key to finding peace. His constant work towards a peaceful reconciliation of the conflict led him to play a fundamental role in the the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which agreed a ceasefire in the Troubles in Northern Ireland and laid the foundation of a power-sharing government in the north. For all of this, Hume received the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize.

John Hume acclaimed for the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998 © European Communities 1998

Hume and the European Parliament

John Hume became a Member of the European Parliament in 1979. He would remain an MEP until 2004, being elected the people of Northern Ireland elected him to this seat five times.

Hume was greatly inspired by the model of post-war European integration. In a speech delivered to the European Parliament after the ratification of the Good Friday Agreement, he said: “Let us not forget that the European Union is the best example, as we have learned, in the history of the world of conflict resolution.” In addressing at a plenary session in Strasbourg (which he called the “city of hope”) about the process of brokering peace in Northern Ireland, he said that: “What we are actually doing is following the example of this very city where we stand”. The European Parliament was also an important setting for him to internationalise the problems of Northern Ireland, raising support for civil rights and promoting a joint effort with the EU and others to find a solution to these issues.

The historical legacy of Hume in today’s European Union

Reflecting on the continued importance of Hume’s message as war continues in Ukraine, Taoiseach Micheál Martin remarked that “Those values—our values, John’s values—must prevail. There can never again be a dark curtain across Europe separating those who are free from those who live under autocracy and oppression”. He also reaffirmed the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, for which John Hume worked tirelessly, in showing “what can be achieved when we work together in partnership, in Ireland and in the UK, with the support of our friends in Europe and the United States.”

President Metsola also harkened to Hume’s work to promote democracy and dialogue, in particular the Good Friday Agreement, repeating his words that “Difference is the essence of humanity. Difference should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.”

A booklet including some of Hume’s most important contributions to the plenary session of the European Parliament held in the Archives of the European Parliament can be downloaded here.