Life
1951- ;[Mary Patricia McAleese; née Leneghan] b. 27 June, eldest of nine; brought
up in Ardoyne area Belfast, and later on Crumlin Rd. after the family were burned out in the early Troubles;
father owned The Long Bar, Leeson St., W. Belfast, and held a public house in Rostrevor, Co. Down; ed. Dominican, Rostrevor, Co. Down, and Queen’s
University, Belfast; LLB, 1973; influenced bh Fr. Justin Coyne (‘soul-mate’); joined Peoples Democracy; MA TCD, 1986; N. Ireland bar, 1974; barrister,
1974-75; also King’s Inns, Dublin; Reid Professor of Criminal Law, TCD,
1975-79, m. Martin McAleese, 1976; returned to Reid Chair, 1981-87; current
affairs journalist and presenter, RTÉ, 1979-81; Dir. of Inst. of Professional
Legal Studies (QUB), 1987-97; Pro-Vice Chancellor, QUB, 1994-97; completed
Dipl. in Spanish, Inst. of Linguistic, 1994; co-chair of Inter-Church
Working Party on Sectarianism, 1994; exec. mbr., Focus Point for Homeless
People; Hon. President, served on Housing Rights Association; mbr. of
Roman Catholic Episcopal Delegation to New Forum, 1984, and attracted
criticism from Liberal camp; adopted as Fianna Fáil presidental candidate
and elected President of Ireland, 11 Nov. 1997, having resigned from QUB, 30 Oct. 1997; issued Reconciled Being:
Love in Chaos (1997), an informal spiritual autobiography; moved to
Áras an Uachtarain, accomp. by her husband Martin and children Emma, Justin
and Sara-Mai; travels widely representing Ireland and in particular in
diaspora cultural centres; attended war memorial service with Queen Elizabeth
II of England in Flanders and laid a wreath on opening the Ireland Peace
Park, Messines, 11 Nov. 1998; launched EirData (PGIL Monaco) 7th Oct.
2000; gave exemplary expression of compassionate concern in impromptu
words spoken on television on hearing of castrophe on Sept. 11th 2001;
launched RIA Conference, UUC (Coleraine), 9th Nov. 2001; FRSA; distinguished
speaker at The Irish Times Awards (RDS, Dec. 2001); an authorised
biography by Ray Mac Mánais appeared in 2003; re-elected to Presidency without opposition, 2004; placed candle at Auschwitz former Nazi Concentration Camp, 27 Jan., and subsequently apologised for ill-advised remarks in radio-interview on comparable forms of prejudice in Northern Ireland, 99 Jan. 2005.
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Works
Reconciled Being: Love in Chaos [John Main Seminar 1997] (London
& Berkhamstead: Medio Media/Arthur James 1997), 122pp. [authorised biography].
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Criticism
Betty Purcell, ‘Interview with Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese’,
in The Crane Bag [Special Issue: ’Images of the Irish Woman’],
Vol. 4, No. 1 (1980), pp. 573-78.
Ray Mac Mánais, Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa: Beathnaisnéis (Cló Iar-chonnachta 2003) [q.pp.].
Ray Mac Mánais, The Road from Ardoyne: The Making of a President (Dingle: Brandon Press 2004), 384pp.
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UUC DLitt: An honorary degree was conferred on Mary McAleese at the University of Ulster on Friday, 9 Nov. 2001, in ‘recognition of the President’s exemplary work for cultural integration, respect for all traditions and justice’. He added, ‘Her special interests in education and inclusion, in Ireland and in the developing world, defined her Presidency’. The encomium was delivered by Professor Denise McAlister, Dean of Fac. of Social Sciences. President McAleese launched a two-day symposium of the RIA on Modern Languages in her capacity as Patron of the European Year of Languages in Ireland. (UU News, Nov. 2001.)
Ray Mac Mánais, author of the Irish-language authorised biography of Mary McAleese (2003), was her Irish teacher.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)