Do you want to go straight to a particular resource? Use the Jump Tool and follow 2 steps:
This can usually be found in the top hero section of overview, delegations visualize, session visualize, event visualize, commentary collection, commentary item, resource collection, and resource item pages.
Enter the shortcut code for the page that you wish to search for.
These documents were scanned, collated and catalogued by Ruth Murray, Annabel Harris, Isha Pareek, Eleanor Williams, Antoine Yenk, Harriet Carter, Oliver Nicholls, Kieran Wetherwick, and Cerys Griffiths.
Collection associations (0)
None
Already have an account? Login here
Don't have an account? Register here
Forgot your password? Click here to reset it
None
None
Copyright
None
Physical Copy Information
None
Digital Copy Information
None
ROBINSON, MRS MARY
President of Republic of Ireland.
Born 1944, Ballina, Co Mayo (Mayo Bourke).
Educated Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville, Dublin; Trinity College, Dublin (MA in law); King's Inns, Dublin (LL B); Harvard University Law School (LL M).
Became the youngest Professor of Law in Ireland at the age of 25 at Trinity College Dublin. Was also elected in 1969 to the Senate from Trinity College (as an Independent). Took the Labour whip in 1976 and stood (unsuccessfully) for the Dail in 1977 and 1981. Resigned from the Labour Party in 1985 over the Anglo-Irish Agreement, on the grounds that the Unionists should have been consulted about it as were the SDLP; did not stand for re-election to the Senate in 1987.
As a Senator, she introduced in 1970 the first Bill to legalise contraceptives; she brought forward a Bill which challenged the then prohibition on people in mixed religious marriages from adopting children; and, in 1973, in another attempt to legalise contraception, she successfully secured the first full parliamentary debate on the subject. She was prominent in advocating the ending of the constitutional ban on divorce and in opposing the constitutional amendment banning abortion in the referenda of 1984 and 1986.
As a lawyer, she established in 1975 the right to free legal aid by taking a case successfully to the European Court of Human Rights. She secured the right of women to sit on juries. Her last notable success, in 1989, was to establish that Irish laws criminalising homosexual acts were contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Elected President in 1990, she was nominated by Labour and endorsed by the Workers' Party and the Green Party, but her appeal went well beyond their constituencies. Promised an activist Presidency, as "a resource for the people".
Married (1970) Nick Robinson, a Protestant solicitor. They have one daughter and two sons.
27 1988 - 2023
38 1993 - 1993
55 101 - 1991
64 1993 - 2020
26 1993 - 1993
57 1993 - 1993
59 1993 - 1993
51 1993 - 1993
18 1993 - 1993
24 1993 - 1994
41 1993 - 1994
32 1993 - 1994
72 101 - 1994
8 101 - 1990
76 101 - 1994
1 1994
60 101 - 1994
65 1993 - 2023
37 101 - 1993
54 101 - 1993
32 101 - 1993
77 1993 - 1993
58 101 - 2018
49 1993 - 1997
61 101 - 1992
38 101 - 1991
48 1992 - 1993
134 101 - ?-??
59 101 - 2023
84 101 - 1993
64 101 - 1991
44
11
31 1996 - 1996
61 1996 - 1996
49 1996 - 1996
20 1996 - 1997
32 1996 - 1996
48 1996 - 1996
74 1996 - None
4 1996 - 1996
33 1996 - 1996
30 1996 - 1996
7 1996 - 1996
24 1996 - 1996
9 1996 - 1996
59 1996 - 1996
60 1996 - 1996
14 1996 - 1997
41 1996 - 1996
45 1996 - 1996
67 1996 - 1996
16 1996 - 1996
87 1996 - None
23 1996 - 1996
79 1996 - None
22 1996 - 1996
1992-01-01
Summarises Mary Robinson's career in law and politics. Also includes some notes on her personality and personal life. Adds that she has broad support across many constituencies, and that she opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
No Associations
N/A
N/A
Unless otherwise specified, this material falls under Crown Copyright and contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The National Archives of the UK (TNA), digitzed by the Quill Project at https://quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/.