merrion street

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Judge Albie Sachs and Cathaoirleach Carrie Smyth

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore paid tribute to the late Kader Asmal at the unveiling of a plaque at the house in Foxrock, Dublin, where South Africa’s Bill of Rights was written more than 20 years ago.

The Tánaiste was joined yesterday by the Bill’s co-author, retired South African Justice Albie Sachs, who is visiting Ireland for a legal rights conference. The Tánaiste also welcomed Louise Asmal, the widow of Kader Asmal, to the unveiling:

In this house in 1988 an essential element in South Africa’s peace process was created. South Africa’s Bill of Rights served as the bedrock of the subsequent Constitution of South Africa. Now, 20 years later, we see a free and democratic South Africa – a testament to the work of the late Kader Asmal and his wife, Louise, Justice Albie Sachs and, indeed, all those who struggled against the evil and inhuman apartheid system.

Addressing Louise Asmal, he said:

You shared with Kader the ultimate vindication of that struggle in the first democratic election in South Africa, and in his appointment as a Minister in President Mandela’s first government.