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(Photo captioned: President Barack Obama presents a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite))

Breaking Down Barriers

When University of Dublin Chancellor and former Irish President Mary Robinson LL.B, M.A., S.C., LL.D. (h.c.), H.F.T.C.D. (1967), met US President Barack Obama in July this year, it was, by any standards, a true meeting of minds, writes Carissa Casey.

Dr Mary Robinson is the first Irish person to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour awarded by the US, a fitting testament to her life-long commitment to champion human rights.

“It was humbling,” she says. “The event itself was very warm and relaxing. The Obamas seemed to really enjoy the occasion, spending time with our families. It was great to have the time with both of them and sense how special they found the day.”

“I have spent a lot of time in the US. In recent years, in my role as UN Commissioner for Human Rights I had to be quite a sharp critic of the US because standards of human rights were not being observed.”

“These were tough issues and it was lonely at times,” she admits. “So I was deeply moved that this country I had a lot of attachment to awarded me this high honour.”

Dr Robinson’s role as global champion of human dignity has often come with a price. But despite the prevailing winds, she steadfastly tacks her own course.

Perhaps, as she suggests herself with a wry chuckle, it was the experience of growing up an only girl sandwiched between four brothers. “I had a need to assert principles of fairness, justice and equality,” she laughs. The five siblings attended Trinity together, sharing a house nearby. “I was more studious than some of my brothers,” she recalls, diplomatically.

She studied Law and remembers giving an address to the Law Society on ‘Law and Morality’. It was, she says now, the basis for her subsequent career as a member of the Seanad. It was mid-'60s Ireland. The winds of change were sweeping the world but in this country a marriage-bar ensured that married women were not allowed to work in the Civil Service, contraception was banned, divorce impossible, and homosexuality a criminal offence.

Nevertheless, it was a rich and stimulating time for the young woman from Mayo. Trinity attracted a variety of students from Northern Ireland, Britain and further afield. “I found the diversity wonderful,” she remembers.

Towards the end of the '60s, Dr Robinson studied at Harvard Law School. She was there when Martin Luther King was shot and killed. Just before she (Continued on page 33...)


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