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Mary Robinson In 1990 Robinson, a member of the Labour Party, was elected the first woman President of Ireland During the debate in 1972 over the referendum to join the European Union, serious arguments were put forward against Ireland's joining. People questioned whether we were going to lose or dilute the independence and sovereignty we had struggled so long for. I happened to be in favor of joining, but I was convinced that if we joined, we had to retain our sense of Irishness. In fact, joining gradually made a deep and positive impact on our Irishness. Ireland welcomed the chance to express its European connection. We were reclaiming our place in Europe. We ceased to define ourselves almost exclusively in terms of our relationship with Britain. It allowed us a more confident modern sense of ourselves, and we embraced wholeheartedly the idea of being one of a number of European countries that included Britain.
This was a new experience. Irish ministers met their British counterparts in a European context along with their French and German colleagues. People got to know one another, and that helped them address the difficult issue of violence in Northern Ireland. It created the kind of climate that led to the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1985.
PHOTO CREDIT: ALAN O'CONNOR-KATZ FOR TIME |
