An Irishman's Diary

Laughter was the last thing we expected. The RTE reporter Shane McGowan and myself had just undergone a labyrinthine journey through the innards of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg and, finally, found ourselves at the offices of the Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler. We spoke to Mr Fischler's secretary. The meeting was still on. And then the laughter, just before the four men emerged. First out was John Hume, followed by the Rev Ian Paisley and the Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson. Then Mr Fischler.

It was December 17th last, just a week after Mr Hume had received the Nobel prize along with David Trimble in Oslo. But that event hardly conveyed as much hope as the combined laughter of the North's three MEPs as they ended a successful meeting with Mr Fischler. And what brought them together? Pigs! They had gone to plead the case of the North's pig farmers following a disastrous fire at the bacon factory in Ballymoney, Co Antrim early last year. The destruction of this major outlet had devastating effects on the pork industry. Mr Fischler was sympathetic. He promised to send an expert to see what could be done.

Important vote

An initially suspicious Dr Paisley soon became voluble as he related to two Southerner-sin-search-of-a-story how badly off the North's pig farmers really were and how they had to be helped. Mr Nicholson explained that the British Agriculture Secretary, Nick Brown, had told them he might be able to assist as well. And John Hume said they'd all better rush or they would miss an important vote in the Parliament. Off they went, three colleagues looking after their voters. An example of what can be.

Two nights previously John Hume had arrived at his hotel at about 11 p.m. after a flight from Belfast. He was alone and a bit forlorn. The lobby was quiet as bar staff closed up shop. Two of them approached him as he came in. They had seen him on TV, they said in French. He put his hand in his jacket pocket, took out the Nobel medal in its square black box, and showed it to them. There was a lively exchange of enthusiastic French as they touched the outline of Alfred Nobel's features. Them they offered him an orange juice - his usual these days.

That night could hardly have been in greater contrast to the one that followed. The Socialist group in the Parliament, of which he is a member, threw an enormous party for him. Over 250 MEPs from all over the EU were there, including the Dublin MEP Bernie Malone. The part occupied three floors of the Kammerzell restaurant, right under the gaze of Strasbourg's magnificent Gothic cathedral (memorably described as "a hoor of a church", it is said, by the father of the late John Healy).

John Hume wandered in shirtsleeves between tables on all three floors of the restaurant, the Nobel medal in his trouser pocket. At each table he held it up for photographs as fellow MEPs posed with him like starstruck teenagers. Then he put it in his pocket again before ambling to the next table.

Martin Luther King

On a large screen a video showed the SDLP party-political broadcast from the Assembly elections, beginning with U2's MLK, as Martin Luther King intoned "I have a dream. . " followed by John Hume explaining that "an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." There was Seamus Mallon and David Trimble in Poyntzpass early last year, after the shooting of two young men, a Catholic and a Protestant. There were clips of Bill Clinton in Derry and U2 in concert at the Waterfront Hall, when Bono brought David Trimble and John Hume centre stage for a moment of silence in memory of the dead. The video ended to lengthy applause.

"Comrades. . ." began the British Labour MEP Pauline Green, leader of the Socialist group, in the language of another day, going on to speak of the Socialist group's warmth and pride in his achievement. How glad they were he had secured such recognition after so many personal and political trials, and what a great part had been played in all of this by his wife Pat and their family.

John Hume gave one of the shortest and most effective speeches he has ever done. How everyone in the North knew someone who had been killed this past 30 years. How so many more they knew had been injured. How much the support of his colleagues had strengthened him. How he was personally so very moved by the presence there of so many. How for him Strasbourg was "le capital de l'espoir" (the capital of hope). His visit to the nearby bridge to Kehl, the border with Germany, when he first became an MEP, and his realisation that the EU was the best example in the history of the world of conflict resolution. How the peace process in the North was an agreement, not a solution, but was a process towards a solution. How the only tragedy about it was that it could not bring people back from their graves. How he hoped they would be the last people in our land to lose their lives because of political strife.

"My dream is that the next century will be the first century in our history when there will be no killing on our streets, and that Ireland will no longer be an exporter of our people but a land where we can work to build, along with our friends in Europe." And then he sang The Town I Love So Well, after explaining that "the Creggan, the Moore, and the Bog are places in my city".

Young couple

When he sat down Pauline Green said: "I have never heard John sing that song without wanting to cry." At her table the Dutch MEP Ms Hedy d'Ancona had tears in her eyes. So had many others. She said, almost in apology, "isn't it very beautiful? Really moving." And she talked about the Irish and art.

Back at his hotel, Mr Hume was just in time to act as interpreter with staff for a young couple who were unable to waken their mother to get into their bedroom. On the street outside he had been greeted by well-wishers as he passed and had to pose for photographs during a brief visit to the Perestroika bar nearby. "For the boss," said a barman in accented English. On his way to bed be agreed there was such a thing as "congratulations fatigue". He may well experience it yet again today in Atlanta, where he is to receive the prize named after the man who was a chief inspiration of the late 1960s demands for civil rights in the North - Martin Luther King.