Ex-Irish President Still Speaks Her Heart 

By Cara Suglich

A politician who keeps tabs on bookies rarely serves out his or her term in tweed – rather than orange – suits.

Mary Robinson - still in tweed - graces many short lists of rare birds in the international political scene and "jailbirds" is certainly not one of them; but she knows how to work an Irish – and an Irish-American – crowd.

"The way in Ireland that you know whether you’re going to do well in something, what your chances are, is the Irish bookmakers," confessed Robinson, seventh president of Ireland. "The Irish bookies chalked me up as a 100 to one outsider, which isn’t really a very good prognosis."

"A little bit against the odds," Robinson was elected first female president of Ireland in December 1990. Leaving the role of the Irish president expanded and strengthened, she went on to take up the post as the second-ever UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1997. She has continued to champion human rights, since moving on to the UN Global Compact Board and The Elders, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela, working as a voice for "the poorest and most marginalized," as Robinson said. 

In that capacity, Robinson spoke on "Responding to Human Rights Challenges," April 1 at Marquette University’s Varsity Theatre for the Allis Chalmers Distinguished Lecture Series in International Affairs. 

Of the "many hats" Robinson referenced throughout her talk, she certainly demonstrated that she can sport the cap of the joker as much as the general. 

"I did have quite an early interest in human rights, and I tend to explain that it was because I was born … wedged between four brothers, two of them older than me and two of them younger than me, and I was the only girl," she explained. "So I just had to have an interest in human rights."

With a warm grin, Robinson also acknowledged the role of her parents, both doctors, in creating a "sense of equality" in her from a young age. They instilled the idea the she might pursue as many avenues of success as her brothers and generating a sense of shared responsibility in their Co. Mayo home, she said.

Robinson’s "dialog," as she appropriately dubbed the speech, was the first of two in the 2008 Allis Chalmers series. Dr. John Pustejovsky, interim dean of series’ sponsor Marquette’s Helen Way Klinger College of Arts and Sciences, noted the history of the series, inaugurated in 2006, and the Allis-Chalmers Company’s generosity to Marquette, including the 1982 endowment of a distinguished professorship of international affairs. 

Past holders include Malcolm Toon, former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, and Sen. George McGovern. Pustejovsky emphasized the value behind Robinson’s visit to the Milwaukee community, noting, "All of us have a stake in these brave conversations."

From the start, Robinson expressed her desire to "make that conversation a dialog," characteristically involving the audience in her talk as if she were sitting at a table, chatting intelligently with well-respected friends. 

This focus on open dialog and communal unification remained at the top of Robinson’s priorities in her tenure as Irish president. When she was elected, she stopped to consider the reach and responsibilities of her new role. 

"I remember again pausing and thinking deeply, ‘How am I going to fulfill what I have promised? How am I going to be able to address the issues, including human rights?’" Robinson said. "And I remember my inauguration, I said that I would like, as a president of Ireland, to somehow connect with part of Irish history."

Robinson immediately recognized the significance for "the modern Ireland" to reconnect with the people who had to emigrate over the years. "I said that I would put a light in the window of the official residence," Robinson recounted. 

"The light was in the kitchen and you could see it from the road and that light was meant to connect all of those who had had to leave Ireland and who were proud of their Irish roots, proud of their Irish heritage and that symbolic gesture was one that I completely underestimated. It was extraordinary, the power of that light," she indicated. 

"So many people felt connected again with a modern Ireland and, in Ireland, we felt more open to influences and more open, in particular, to reaching out to those in Northern Ireland, and trying to open up a wider sense of Irishness," the ex-president added.

Robinson’s presidential term overlapped with that of former American President Bill Clinton, who was instrumental in the peace process with Northern Ireland. Robinson noted that Clinton holds a certain place of respect in Ireland for his work in that process. During a visit to Belfast, the former president and his wife, presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, also met Robinson at the official residence in Dublin when she was president. Despite recent criticism of the senator’s embellishment of her role in a later visit during the 1998 peace talks, Robinson speaks highly of her.

"I know that Hillary Clinton met with a number of women’s organizations and had good meetings with them, but I’m not aware of her playing a particularly political role because it was so clear that the president was on top of things," explained Robinson of her observations.

In the Telegraph report from March 14, former Social Democratic and Labour Party man Brian Feeny stated, "The road to peace was carefully documented and (Sen. Clinton) wasn’t on it." That same report also notes Clinton’s role in encouraging the founding of the Women’s Coalition, a unifying role that Robinson mentioned and one to which she, as the chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, can relate.

"I would see her role as certainly an important one, of meeting with women’s organizations and supporting them," Robinson continued. Of the Council of Women World Leaders, Robinson said, "We formed the council to make the fact that women held the highest office more visible. If Hillary Clinton becomes president, I hope she will also join this council and she would become number 41."

Robinson, who kept the audience engaged and involved, closed on a proud – and still funny – note. She explained the impressive history of the Council of Women World Leaders, sharing a tale she said is also commonly told by current Irish President Mary McAleese. So many women now serve as heads of state across the globe and still, "small boys in Ireland weep on their mothers’ knees saying, ‘Why can’t I grow up and be president?’"

Robinson certainly knows how to work a crowd in conversation.

Dr. Kevin Bales, president of human rights organization Free the Slaves and author of the book that inspired it, Disposable People, joined the ranks as the fifth speaker in series’ history on April 15. Bales continued Robinson’s human rights dialog with the theme "Modern Day Slavery."