So Mr John Hume is to retire from active politics after a lifetime of public service spanning decades of division in Northern Ireland. He has announced his intention to resign from the European Parliament next June and to retire as MP for Foyle, representing his beloved city of Derry, at the next Westminster election.
The champion of constitutional nationalism in Ireland, North and South, is set to leave the political stage for medical reasons.
His successor, Mr Mark Durkan, spoke for many in Ireland yesterday when he hailed the former SDLP leader's unique "insight, influence and inspiration". Mr Hume's involvement with politics began with the civil rights marches in 1968, continuing with his leadership of the SDLP through the years of the Troubles, and culminating in the winning of the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr David Trimble in 1998 for his work on the peace process.
But, to only acknowledge his life's work within the borders of Northern Ireland would do a great disservice to his remarkable contribution to contemporary politics. Mr Hume has worked with seven Taoisigh, many prime ministers and many more secretaries of state over 33 years. He has set the Anglo-Irish agenda for parties and governments when hope lay on barren ground. He was the architect of the New Ireland Forum which, in turn, provided the framework for the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. And he played a leading role with Mr Gerry Adams in the peace process which paved the way for the Belfast Agreement, the highlight of his career.
He would not be the giant among political leaders of his generation, however, if he had not voiced his views on the world stage. Mr Hume was elected as one of Northern Ireland's first members of the European Parliament in 1979. For 25 years he has held the singular conviction, repeated at his press conference yesterday, that "Europe is the best example in the history of the world in conflict resolution". He believed that the European model was revelant to the search for a solution in Northern Ireland.
He has advocated the philosophy of constitutional nationalism in the House of Commons over the many years since he was first elected a member of Westminster in 1983. He was often a lonely voice. But, as the Taoiseach acknowledged yesterday, his uncompromising insistence on peace has influenced successive British governments and produced the inclusive political dispensation on offer today.
Mr Hume had a vision and he shaped it within the ebb and flow of representative politics over three decades. That vision may have been obscured by what has come to be known as Humespeak in recent years. We must spill our sweat not our blood. We must come to the table armed only with our convictions. The real border is in the hearts and minds of people. When people work together, Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, and break down the barriers of distrust, a new Ireland will evolve. And John Hume will have shaped it for us all.