62 Facts About Mary Robinson

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office.

Mary Robinson is widely regarded as having had a transformative effect on Ireland, having successfully campaigned on several liberalising issues as a senator and as a lawyer.

Mary Robinson was involved in the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the legalisation of contraception, the legalisation of divorce, enabling women to sit on juries, and securing the right to legal aid in civil legal cases in Ireland.

Mary Robinson extended her intended single four-year term as High Commissioner by one year to preside over the World Conference against Racism 2001 in Durban, South Africa: the conference proved controversial due to a draft document which equated Zionism with racism.

Amid rising pressure from the United States, Mary Robinson resigned her post in September 2002.

Mary Robinson served as Chancellor of the University of Dublin from 1998 until 2019, and as Oxfam's honorary president from 2002 until she stepped down in 2012.

Mary Robinson remains active in campaigning globally on issues of civil rights.

Mary Robinson has been the honorary president of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation EIUC since 2005.

Mary Robinson is a former Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development and is a founding member and chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Mary Robinson was a member of the European members of the Trilateral Commission.

Mary Robinson's father was Aubrey Bourke, of Ballina, while her mother was Tessa Bourke from Carndonagh in Inishowen, County Donegal.

Mary Robinson was raised, along with her brothers, at Victoria House, her parents' residence in the centre of Ballina.

Mary Robinson's family had links with many diverse political strands in Ireland.

Mary Robinson attended Mount Anville Secondary School in Dublin and studied law at Trinity College Dublin.

Mary Robinson was one of three women in her class in Trinity, and graduated in 1967 with first class honors.

Mary Robinson furthered her studies at the King's Inns and was called to the Irish Bar in 1967.

Mary Robinson was awarded a fellowship to attend Harvard Law School, receiving an LL.

In late July 1976, Mary Robinson joined the Labour Party, though she later left the party in 1985.

Mary Robinson first fought a gender-based case in the Labour Court on behalf of her husband.

Mary Robinson lost a groundbreaking case in the European Court of Justice, the first case in which the court granted legal aid to a plaintiff.

On 23 May 1989, Mary Robinson announced that she would not be seeking re-election, and on 5 July 1989, Mary Robinson served as a senator her last day in her career.

Mary Robinson won the Labour Party nomination over former Minister for Health Noel Browne by a 4:1 majority.

Mary Robinson had the advantage of being the first candidate nominated for the election, in that she could cover more meetings, public addresses and interviews.

Mary Robinson received the backing of The Irish Times newspaper, and this proved hugely advantageous.

Mary Robinson ran against two other candidates: Austin Currie, for Fine Gael, and Brian Lenihan for Fianna Fail.

Mary Robinson obtained the backing of the Workers' Party which was strong in Dublin and Cork and was considered crucial to getting working class votes.

Flynn, even more controversially, joked privately that Mary Robinson would "turn the Aras [President's residence] into the Red Cow Inn [a pub in Dublin]".

Mary Robinson became president, the first woman to hold the office, and the first candidate to be second on first preference votes to win the presidency.

Mary Robinson became the first Labour Party candidate, the first woman, and the first non-Fianna-Fail candidate in the history of contested presidential elections to win the presidency.

Mary Robinson was inaugurated as the seventh President of Ireland on 3 December 1990.

Mary Robinson proved a remarkably popular President, earning the praise of Brian Lenihan himself who, before his death five years later, said that she was a better President than he ever could have been.

In 1991, Mary Robinson was prevented from leaving the country by Charles Haughey's government.

Mary Robinson had been invited to deliver the prestigious BBC Dimbleby Lecture, and was to be speaking on the position of women and the family in Ireland.

In 1992, Mary Robinson traveled to Somalia, which at the time was struck by famine.

Mary Robinson then traveled to the UN to make a report of her findings.

Mary Robinson later welcomed visits by senior members of the British royal family, most notably Charles, Prince of Wales, to her official residence, Aras an Uachtarain.

Mary Robinson was invited to chair a committee to review the workings of the United Nations, but declined when asked to by the Government of Ireland, who feared that her involvement might make it difficult for it to oppose the proposals that would result.

Mary Robinson visited Irish nuns and priests abroad regularly, and became the first President to host an Aras reception for the Christian Brothers.

Mary Robinson's outfit was condemned by a young priest, Fr David O'Hanlon, for supposedly breaking Vatican dress codes.

Mary Robinson issued her resignation as president in a message to the of the, taking effect on 12 September 1997.

Mary Robinson resigned to take up appointment as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mary Robinson became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 12 September 1997, resigning the presidency a few weeks early to take up the post.

Mary Robinson's role was to set the human rights agenda within the organisation and internationally, refocusing its appeal.

Mary Robinson was the first High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Tibet, making her trip in 1998.

Mary Robinson wore a headscarf at the meeting, because the Iranians enforced an edict that all women attending the conference must wear one.

Mary Robinson had criticised the US for violating human rights in its war on terrorism and the World Conference against Racism was widely condemned in the US for its perceived antisemitism.

Mary Robinson served as the twenty-fourth, and first female, Chancellor of the University of Dublin.

Mary Robinson represented the university in the for over twenty years and held the Reid Chair in Law.

Mary Robinson was succeeded as chancellor by Mary McAleese, who had succeeded her as president of Ireland.

Mary Robinson has travelled with Elders delegations to the Ivory Coast, the Korean Peninsula, Ethiopia, India, South Sudan and the Middle East.

Mary Robinson was the keynote speaker at the One Young World Opening Ceremony where she highlighted the need to empower young people to participate in decision-making processes that shape their future.

On 1 November 2018, Mary Robinson was appointed as the Chair of The Elders, succeeding Kofi Annan who had died earlier in the year.

In 2016 at the One Young World summit Mary Robinson began to become vocal about her efforts to eat less meat and encouraged others to either do the same or adopt some type of entirely vegetarian diet in order to help fight climate change.

Mary Robinson was applauded for her suggestions but did receive condemnation from critics in her own country expressing concern that following her lead would inadvertently harm workers in the agricultural industry and meat industry; she was asked to withdraw her comments by her local council.

In 2019 Mary Robinson announced that she believes in making tackling climate change a personal issue in our lives and for this reason she has stopped eating meat in favor of a more eco-friendly pescetarian diet.

In March 2013, Mary Robinson was chosen to oversee the implementation of a peace deal to stabilise the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In February 2021, Mary Robinson retracted her 2018 statement claiming on the BBC's Panorama programme that she and Latifa's stepmother, Princess Haya, were both misled over the health and stability of Latifa during that period, when she was held in enforced detention in a Dubai villa and Mary Robinson was embroiled into the proof of life controversy to allay international concern over Latifa's disappearance from the public eye.

Mary Robinson gave an account of the incident on The Late Late Show on 26 February 2021, referring to it as the biggest mistake of her career.

In 1991 and in 2001, Mary Robinson was awarded honorary doctorates by Brown University, University of Cambridge, University of Liverpool and Lisbon Nova University.

Amnesty International congratulated Mary Robinson on being named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal.

Mary Robinson said that she failed to confront purveyors of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Mary Robinson has been unwavering in her passionate call to end torture, persecution, and discrimination against LGBT people globally.