President Michael D Higgins has paid a remarkable tribute to Nelson Mandela on Newstalk this evening, hailing the "extraordinary witness given by one incredible man".
Speaking on The Right Hook from Johannesburg, President Higgins was amazed by the amount of people in the FNB Stadium in Soweto today; all there to pay their respects to the former South African leader.
The Irish President was helping represent Ireland at the memorial service today, alongside his wife Sabina, former President Mary Robinson, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, as well as one of the Dunnes Stores strikers who took an anti-apartheid stand in 1984.
Speaking about the service today, President Higgins remarked:
"To see the stadium packed with 100 Heads of State, Prime Ministers and others...but above all else filled with black people of different ages was quite moving."
"I had met one of the veterans earlier in the day, Andrew Mlangeni, who had been in Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, and he was due to speak later on"
"It was indeed a very moving ceremony".
Listen back to the full interview with President Michael D Higgins from today's The Right Hook.
