Word: dublin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...midday in Phoenix Park, Dublin, site of the President's house, or Aras an Uachtarain, as the Irish call it. A group of 40 people, most of them fit, elderly, dressed in practical tweeds, have gathered in a gracious 19th century drawing room filled with pale sunlight. They are members of the National Association of Tenants' Organizations, a volunteer group, and have been invited by Robinson for a tour and tea. After a few minutes, a tall, handsome woman, dressed in a bright suit that could be described as benign dress for success, enters and, without fanfare, begins her talk...
After her Paris year, Mary went to Trinity College in Dublin to study law. All indications are that she had a good time there. Her mother had bought a Dublin house for her brainy brood (Robinson is the third child and only girl among five) and added a governess to keep order. There were plenty of parties, but according to her brother Henry, "she always got the balance right." After graduation she spent a year at Harvard getting a master's degree at the law school. That was a seismic learning experience...
...Dail, the lower house of Parliament, ended in defeat. She finally broke with the party because she thought it was intransigent on the Northern Ireland question. A reunified island is perhaps her ultimate goal. In addition, she and her husband helped establish the Irish Center for European Law in Dublin, a forum that is highly respected throughout the Continent. It was a career that could easily have led to a seat on the Supreme Court or a major job with the European Community...
...Dublin politicians saw her as a troublemaker who would use her potent legal skills to cross the boundaries of her job and challenge the government. Any such action, they feared, would damage the value of her nebulous office. No fracas has ever occurred. She showed her grasp of the presidency last March in the notorious case in which the government tried to stop a 14-year-old rape victim from going abroad for an abortion. Robinson spoke out, emphasizing the need for Irish society to confront the issue but not dictating the resolution. Characteristically, she saw a chance to guide...
...Around Dublin, Robinson is at least as big a celebrity as any U2 band member or Sinead O'Connor. Like royalty, she cannot go to a convenience store without being recognized and fussed over. In fact, the Observer has called her "the thinking man's Princess Di." There are still five years to go in her term of office and, if she wants, she can run for another seven-year stint. If she has her way -- and she is very determined -- she will leave her country better off than she found...