All parties must honour the principles and aims of the Good Friday Agreement, the Taoiseach has said, as he unveiled a sculpture of John Hume at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Micheál Martin said the former SDLP leader and key architect of the Good Friday Agreement drew inspiration from the European Union in reaching agreement on the peace process, which was his "life's work".
Mr Hume saw the European project in which people came together "strengthened rather than divided by their diversity" as "a powerful example of peace and reconciliation," the Taoiseach told a gathering that included MEPs and the European Commissioner, Mairead McGuinness, in Strasbourg.
"The Good Friday Agreement shows what can be achieved when we work together in partnership in Ireland and in the United Kingdom, with support from our friends in Europe and the United States," Mr Martin said.
"As imagined first by John Hume, the Agreement was resoundingly endorsed by the people of Ireland, north and south, in transformational referendums in 1998 and it retains that support today."
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The people mandated power-sharing and "principles of partnership, mutual respect and parity of esteem and the overarching goal of striving and every practical way for reconciliation," he said. "All parties to the Agreement need to live up to these principles and objectives today."
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said that as peace talks progressed in the 1990s, Mr Hume was adamant that there should be no going back. She said it was "a reminder to our generation of the importance of safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement".
Also speaking at the event, John Hume junior said it means a huge amount to the entire family: "Dad really loved Strasbourg, he came here every month for 25 years.
"He drew huge inspiration from the European Parliament, from Strasbourg as a city. And it is just so lovely, it's a beautiful sculpture and to have it here is amazing, fantastic."
Maurice Fitzpatrick who made a documentary about Hume in America, said the European Parliament was a huge influence in his drive for peace.
"Even as a very young man in Derry he could see the growing European community as an alternative, a place where he and unionist politicians could sit down and do business and create a new space, a new context to work," he said.
"It was a cultural inspiration for him, he was a French speaker and he was always very proud of the 25 years he spent in the European Parliament," said Mr Fitzpatrick.
The sculptor, Elizabeth O'Kane, who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, said she worked closely with the family in creating the bronze bust, which represents Mr Hume when he was 40 - the age when he became a member of the European Parliament.
