I wish to say a few words in honour of our former President. I welcome this opportunity to pay tribute to Mary Robinson who in her capacity of President of Ireland represented the Irish people in a most outstanding manner for almost seven years. She was someone of whom we could be proud. During this period she brought the highest office of the State into contact with people in a very human way and presented a view of Ireland on the international stage. She emphasised Ireland's commitment to working for justice in international relations and her visits to Rwanda and other areas of the world where people were suffering showed the generous spirit of the Irish people to those less fortunate than ourselves.
I have no doubt that what she did for Irish exiles around the world will always be remembered. She visited Irish communities in America and as far away as Australia and even further afield. She worked hard to make them feel included just as she did to make everyone in the Irish community feel included.
I join everyone in this House and throughout the country in wishing her continued success as she takes up her new and challenging role as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She will bring her unique style and commitment to her new position as she did to the Presidency and to every position she has held whether in her professional office, the legal world, or here as a Member of Seanad Éireann.
From her earliest involvement in public affairs she always espoused human rights issues and her new position reflects the quality of her work and the strength of her convictions to such issues. We wish her and her husband, Nick, and their children all the very best for the future.
I express our sympathy and deep regret on learning of the tragic death of Mother Teresa last Friday week. She was undoubtedly a shining light to all the world in her remarkable work of reaching out to the poorest and weakest in our society. Her single-minded efforts on their behalf stemmed from the belief that God was greater than she and that it was his will that she work for the service of others. She first came to Ireland in 1928, joined the Loreto Sisters in Rathfarnham and later left the convent to work in the slumps of Calcutta where she received Vatican approval for the establishment of her Society of the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The society now has more than 4,000 members worldwide working in more than 115 countries, including Ireland, in hospices for AIDS victims, in shelters for the homeless, in homes for drug addicts and orphanages. In all these places her sisters and volunteers work to alleviate not only physical discomfort but also great levels of despair and loneliness.
In a world that materialises everything it is important to realise that it was Mother Teresa's fate in something that surpasses the material which made her such an inspiring and self-sacrificing figure. In work and deed, in her public and private dealings with people she showed the deepest respect for others and consequently people reached out to embrace her and work with her.
I am glad we had the privilege to bestow on her the freedom of our capital city in 1993. I express our deepest gratitude to the sisters for Mother Teresa's work on behalf of peace in Ireland. We are privileged to have lived in her time and to have learned from her the lessons of selfless devotion and total giving. May she rest in peace.
I too express my sympathy and great sense of loss following the sudden, tragic and appalling death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Few events in modern times have resulted in such an outpouring of emotion all over the world. A deep feeling of regret and sorrow for her death was universal but we must remember the greatest loss was not suffered by those who may have known her slightly or only through the media but by her two sons, William and Harry. The death of a young mother, whatever her position in society, is always a particularly tragic affair and everything must be done to ensure her sons are assisted in coping with this dreadful loss.
From the time she first came to public notice, Diana's face and smile have dominated news stands and our television screens. She was a person of great status, beauty and prestige who chose to use her great assets for the benefit of others. Through her work Diana, Princess of Wales, showed great compassion and kindness to many people — the poor, the sick, the disadvantaged and particularly children. She used her prestige to help remove the stigma that applied to the sufferers of those dreadful diseases, AIDS and leprosy. Her work with AIDS patients was groundbreaking and it urged a reluctant world to come to terms with a frightening disease. Her work with leprosy victims was of a similar vein and her work on the landmines issue cannot be put down purely to charitable instincts.
Her concern challenged the vested interests of those who produced those dreadful instruments of destruction and mutilation. She was the people's princess and our thoughts and prayers are especially with her two children, her family, who have to endure this almost unbearable burden of grief. May she also rest in peace.