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Newspaper cuttings relating to Northern Ireland, 1980s, consisting of cuttings relating to conference in Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia, United States of America on Northern Ireland including covering that Fianna Fáil, one of Ireland's main political parties, had chosen not to attend, 11-19/01/1985; a cutting of article from Mary Robinson examining the implications of the High Court decision that the broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin and other groups was lawful, 02/06/1989.

Newspaper cuttings and press statements relating to Northern Ireland, human rights breaches, and the ongoing efforts to bring peace to the region, arranged chronologically across three files.

This subseries consists of press material generated during and relating to Mary Robinson (MR)'s term as President of Ireland (1990-1997) and is further divided into two subsubseries: material covering interviews, press releases and other press excluding cuttings (P143/4/8/1) and press cuttings (P143/4/8/2). It is arranged chronologically.

Ref: P143/4/8

Material in this series relates to coverage of Mary Robinson in the press, and consists of cuttings (P143/15/1), photographs (P154/15/2) and interviews (P143/15/3). Often during the course of Robinson’s career, her work with various organisations overlapped, and she carried out multiple roles simultaneously. As a result, press coverage which could not be identified as relating to a specific role or be clearly defined as relating to one role only, and which therefore could not be arranged in a relevant series elsewhere, is included here.

For press coverage of Robinson in specific roles (e.g. President of Ireland; United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) please refer to the relevant press section(s) in the series covering that role.

INCOMPLETE - FURTHER CATALOGUING OF THIS SERIES TO COME

Material in this subseries relates to Mary Robinson (MR)'s Presidential Election campaign from her nomination as candidate, through to her successful election, and includes campaign committee minutes, press releases, correspondence, reports and polls, posters, cuttings and other ephemera. Nominated by both Labour and The Workers' Party to become candidate of political left, MR chose to remain independent from either party, and made history as both the first female candidate and eventual winner. The margin of victory between the three candidates [MR, Brian Lenihan (Fianna Fáil) and Austin Currie (Fine Gael)] was one of the tightest in history, and the final few weeks featured personal attacks from rival parties, scandal and resignation of Lenihan from Government, and internal bickering amongst Fianna Fáil party members. Fine Gael's leader, Alan Dukes, would later resign following Currie's poor third place showing. Ruairí Quinn, Deputy Leader of the Labour party, worked as MR's Campaign Director and the election took place on 7th November 1990.

[Archivist's Note: In January 1982, then Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, asked then President, Patrick Hillery, to dissolve the Dáil, which Hillery did. If Hillery had refused a dissolution, Charles Haughey as Leader of the Opposition, could have formed an alternative government. Lenihan among others called Hillery seeking to pressure him to refuse to dissolve the Dáil, something Lenihan denied doing in October 1990 during the Presidential election campaign. However, tapes existed of an interview he did with postgrad student and journalist, Jim Duffy, in May 1990, in which he stated he had done so, and (sections of) these tapes were subsequently released by Duffy following Lenihan's denial. Haughey dismissed Lenihan from government but supported him as Fianna Fáil's candidate in presidential election. This became known as the (Duffy) "Tapes Affair". To support Lenihan and weaken MR's standing with voters, a fellow Fianna Fáil government colleague, Pádraig Flynn, launched a personal attack which questioned MR's loyalty to her family among other insults, which, along with the "Tapes Affair", was seen to have gifted MR the election.

However, a letter in P143/4/1/3/5 from Robin J Addis, Managing Director, Lansdowne Market Research, references an unpublished poll showing MR had already almost caught up with Lenihan in estimated first preference votes, and stated pollsters would most likely have predicted MR to win regardless, without any assistance from these events.]

Ref: P143/4/1

Material in this series relates to Mary Robinson (MR)’s role as President of Ireland (December 1990 - September 1997). Ireland’s 7th president, she was the first woman to hold this office and the first non-Fianna Fáil [Irish political party founded in 1926] candidate elected. During her seven-year presidency she transformed and expanded the role, assisted in large part by her knowledge and understanding of the Irish constitution. In particular, her legal expertise allowed her to differentiate between imagined and existing legal constraints. She developed new political, cultural, and economic links with other countries, reached out to local communities at home and abroad, and used her platform to bring attention to suffering of others such as her visit to Somalia in 1992.

The series is further subdivided into 18 subseries and includes correspondence, reports, press cuttings, photographs, programmes and agendas. Material relating to MR’s nomination jointly by the Labour party and the Workers Party as their candidate and to her election campaign can be found in P143/4/1 and material in P143/4/2 covers the resulting official inauguration. The six subseries which follow consist of daily engagement schedules (P143/4/3); briefing notes, background information and reports (P143/4/4); material relating to official state visits (P143/4/5); correspondence with her secretary Peter Ryan, with the Government including the Taoisigh [Irish prime ministers] and members of the public including children and VIPS (P143/4/6); photographs (P143/4/7) and press cuttings (P143/4/8).

P143/4/9 and P143/4/10 consist of material relating to staff and administration at Áras an Uachtaráin [the official residence of the President of Ireland] and to the building itself and its surrounding grounds respectively. The remaining subseries consists of material relating to MR’s addresses as president (P143/4/11); events excluding official state visits (P143/4/12); gifts given and received during her presidential term (P143/4/13); legal documentation predominantly relating to Acts passed in Dáil Éireann [lower house of parliament] and the Council of State (P143/4/14); role of the president (P143/4/15); Northern Ireland during MR’s presidential term including Co-operation North [a non-political, non-denominational all-island charity dedicated to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, later renamed Co-operation Ireland] (P143/4/16), theses and other studies on MR’s term as president (P143/4/17) and ephemera (P143/4/18).

[Archivist’s Note: People featured throughout this series include Peter Ryan, Secretary to the President; Joe Brennan, Deputy Secretary to the President; Bride Rosney, Special Adviser to the President; Ann Lane, Personal Assistant to the President; Kay Gleeson, Personnel Officer, Áras an Uachtaráin; Dermot Nally, Secretary to the Government; Frank Murray, Assistant Secretary to the Government, later Secretary (from 03/1993); Brian McCarthy, Assistant Secretary to the Government (from 03/1993) and Noel Dorr, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs.]

Ref: P143/4

Colour photograph of President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak at an unnamed event.