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Heroes

♀ REBIYA KADEER

♀  IRENE FERNANDEZ

♀ MARY ROBINSON

♀ SALLY RIDE & EILEEN COLLINS

MARY ROBINSON    Born 1944

She served on the following parliamentary committees:- Joint Committee on EC Secondary Legislation 1973 - 89 and Chairman of its Social Affairs Sub-Committee 1977 - 87, Chairman of its Legal Affairs Committee 1987 - 89; Joint Committee on Marital Breakdown 1983 - 85. She was a member of Dublin City Council 1979 - 83.

On 3 December, 1990, Mary Robinson was inaugurated as the seventh President of Ireland,  a milestone event in Irish society---not only was she the first woman president of Ireland, she was, at the time, one of only three female heads of state in the world.. She resigned from the office of President on 12 September, 1997, to take up appointment as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights .  She walked away from guaranteed re-election and was identified with progressive and independent thinking in a country often described as one of the most conservative in Europe.

The message the former civil liberties lawyer head of state delivered to the Irish nation soon after her shock election as Ireland's first woman president in 1990 was that through her victory the women of Ireland "instead of rocking the cradle had rocked the system".

After a bitter election battle, Mrs. Robinson's dignity and eloquence won the loyalty of virtually the entire nation for her pulpit.

Mrs. Robinson highlighted Irish traditions of hospitality and inclusiveness in her Presidency, forging a new identity for the nation in Europe and further afield. Women and the Irish diaspora -- tens of millions of Irish emigrants and their descendants scattered across the globe -- were key groups in her voyage to heal and renew the Irish spirit.

A key figure for the north of Ireland, Mrs. Robinson helped consolidate the peace process by reaching out the hand of friendship to Gerry Adams before the IRA ceasefire. The Adams handshake was part of an ongoing process which saw Mrs. Robinson transform a previously ceremonial presidential role into a dynamic force.

On the way she became the first Irish President to open a dialogue with Britain's Royal Family. She visited Buckingham Palace to take tea with the Queen, and played host to the monarch's children in Ireland.

Among the numerous international activities relating to human rights in which she participated, Ms. Robinson served as Special Rapporteur to the Interregional Meeting organized in 1993 by the Council of Europe on the theme "Human rights at the Dawn of the 21st Century", as part of its preparation for the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. She delivered the keynote address at the Council of Europe preparatory meeting for the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women.

Ms. Robinson was the first Head of State to visit Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide there and made two further visits, the most recent to address the Pan-African Conference on "Peace, Gender and Development". While in Rwanda she met representatives of, and was briefed by, agencies on the ground, as well as by the United Nations Human Rights Monitors. She was also the first Head of State to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as well as the first Head of State to visit Somalia following the crisis there in 1992. Ms. Robinson received the Special CARE Humanitarian Award in recognition of her efforts for Somalia.  She also made regular trips to Northern Ireland.

In an initial response to Mrs. Robinson's decision to quit, Mr. Bruton, ex Prime Minister, said: "She was probably the best president we have ever had."

There are some who predict that Mary Robinson will be the next head of the United Nations.