Material relating to President Mary Robinson's visit to Great Britain, 04-07/06/1996 including confidential brief from Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) containing embassy overview note, and notes on political developments in Northern Ireland, prisoners in Britain, Emergency legislation, cultural relations with Britain, Ireland's Presidency priorities [of the European Union, July-December 1996], and bilateral economic relations with Britain; bound background notes from DFA covering biographies, The Prince's Trust, Westminster Cathedral, No. 10 Downing Street, British Council, Guildhall, influential Irish in Britain, Buckingham Palace (Guard of Honour), South Camden Community School, Lancaster House, York Minster, Jorvik Viking Centre, Fairfax House and Castle Howard; official menu for luncheon at 10 Downing Street, in honour of President Robinson's visit, 05/06/1996, signed to Robinsons from John and Norma Major.

Ref: P143/4/5/3/6/6

Material relating to President Mary Robinson's State visit to Japan, 19-28/02/1995, consisting of background brief and speaking notes covering the Imperial Family, call on Governor of Nara, visit to Todaiji Temple and Horyuji Temple, reception for Irish Community hosted at residence of Ambassador and Mrs Sharkey, courtesy call by the NEC [electronics manufacturer headquartered in Japan with semiconductor plant in Ballivor, Co. Meath], courtesy call by Grelan Pharmaceutical [including re project to open plant in Wicklow], luncheon hosted by Nikkeiran on behalf of Japanese Economic Organisations, courtesy call by distinguished Japanese women including UNIFEM National Committee Japan President, Ms Michiko Nakamura, courtesy call by Dai Nippon Printing [including in relation to talks between them as biggest Media company in the world, and Forbairt, Ireland], courtesy call by Ireland Fund, Japan, courtesy call by Governor of Saitama Prefecture, visit to the Diet and the Supreme Court, meeting with and dinner hosted by Prime Minister Murayama, courtesy call by Governor of Tokyo, Mr Suzuki, visit to Ireland House, visit to Sophia University, courtesy call by President of the Tokyo University for Fine Arts and Music, Professor Ikuo Hirayama, re Chester Beatty restoration, An Bord Tráchtála [Irish Trade Board] luncheon, press conference at National Press Club, visit to Hiroshima, reception hosted by Mr Sumita, Governor of Shimane Prefecture, and Mr Toshio Miyaoka, Mayor of Matsue, visit to Lafcadio Hearn museum and former home, tour of Matsue Castle, visit to Izumo Taisha shrine, luncheon at Shimane Winery Restaurant, and visit to Osaka.

Ref: P154/4/5/3/5/2

Material in this subseries relates to Northern Ireland, the ongoing conflict and efforts to bring peace to the region. It is further subdivided into five subsubseries covering reports and background information (P143/4/16/1), correspondence (P143/4/16/2), events and conferences (P143/4/16/3), press statements, interviews, cuttings and photographs (P143/4/15/4) and Co-operation North (P143/4/15/5). As per themes listed out in minutes in P143/9/2/1, MR sought to extend hand of friendship and love to both communities in Northern Ireland "with no strings attached, no hidden agenda", and over the term of her presidency she would visit Northern Ireland 17 times. Material here overlaps with material throughout this series relating to Northern Ireland including P143/4/5, P143/4/6, P143/4/8, P143/4/9 and P143/4/18 as well as elsewhere in the collection.

Ref: P143/4/16

Material relating to the Matrimonial Home Bill [aiming to give each Spouse equal rights to house ownership], including typed memo from Peter Ryan, Secretary to the President, to President Mary Robinson (MR) noting Bill had been passed in the Seanad [Seanad Éireann, Irish Senate] with one amendment and was expected to be taken by the Dáil [Dáil Éireann, lower house of Irish parliament] later in the month, with background information on some of the issues and recommendation MR refer Bill to Supreme Court, 04/11/1993; original typed decision of Supreme Court, which found proposed Bill "repugnant to the Constitution", and signed by Chief Justice Finlay, 24/01/1994; A3 photocopy of legal declaration by President of Ireland to Chairman of Seanad Éireann, declining to sign Bill based on Supreme Court's finding, [January?] 1994.

Ref: P143/4/14/4

Material relating to London School of Economics and Mary Robinson (MR)'s work with them including letter from Anthony Giddens, Director LSE, thanking MR for talks she gave, 24/10/2002, and handwritten letter of thanks from Conor [Gearty], 04/11/2002; Director’s report 1998-1999, flyer for LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, "Above the Parapet - Women in Public Life" 200[?] and LSE Institute of Public Affairs (with image of MR included in montage on cover) 200[?]; email correspondence between MR and Zoe Gillard, Centre Manager, Centre for the Study of Human rights, LSE, relating to tributes for Conor Gearty who was leaving the centre, and referring to MR launching the Centre on a previous occasion, 29/06/2009; email correspondence from Stephen Humphries, LSE including keynote speech he gave at LSE for United Nations Social Forum 2010 "Climate Change and Human Rights: Crisis and Utopia", and further emails from Gearty in relation to work Humphries was doing developing a course on human rights at LSE, 06-12/10/2010; itineraries, speaking points, handwritten notes, presentation slides and other material relating to LSE high level roundtable "Scaling-up ambition on climate action through equity and climate justice" [possibly overlapping with Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice], and note for facilitator Ravi Kanbur, note for presenters, note for co-chair Judge Slade, and concluding notes for MR, for second meeting of High Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) of the Climate Justice Dialogue 12-14/03/2014.

[Archivist's note: See also P143/3/17/19 and P143/3/20/6].

Material relating to the Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill, 1993 including various Supreme Court Judgements sent to Bride [Rosney, Special Adviser to the President] by Emer Colleran, An Taisce, 30/05/1993; fax from Colleran with more background information and commentary on issues with the Bill, and note that she was "not trying to influence", 04/06/1993; fax from An Taisce of letter they sent to Minister Michael Smith, TD, Minister for the Environment, in which they lay out issues they had with Bill, 04/06/1993; memo from Peter Ryan, Secretary to the President, to President Mary Robinson in relation to the timing of when Bill would be presented for signature, the issues with it and his contention that they were more political than legal, along with copies of Bill which had passed the Dáil [Dáil Éireann, lower house of Irish parliament] and cuttings relating to criticism Bill was facing, 10-11/06/1993.

Ref: P143/4/14/5

This subseries consists of correspondence and other material relating to legal issues and responsibilities attached to role of President of Ireland, the signing of several bills. Material includes that relating to the Referendum (Amendment) Bill, 1992 (P143/4/14/2), Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, 1993 (P143/4/14/3), Matrimonial Home Bill (P143/4/14/4), Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill, 1993 (P143/4/14/5), Regulation of Information (Services Outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies), Bill, 1995 (P143/4/14/6), The Employment Equality Bill, 1996 (P143/4/14/7), The Equal Status Bill, 1997 (P143/4/14/8), Mary Robinson resigning as president (P143/4/14/10), dissolution of Dáil Éireann (P143/4/14/11), Council of State (P143/4/14/12), compilation lists of Irish Cases (P143/4/14/13) and Dáil acts passed (P143/4/14/14).
Ref: P143/4/14

Correspondence relating to legal issues and responsibilities of role of President of Ireland including typed memo from Micheál [?] on the procedures for the appointment of The Judge Advocate by the President, with copy of Section 15 of the Defence Act 1954, 06/12/1990; handwritten note from Peter Ryan (PR), Secretary to the President, flagging that section 8 of the Adoption Bill was causing concern and attaching photocopy of Dáil debates where the Adoption Bill was discussed, 08-28/05/1991; typed memos from PR to Ann Lane, Personal Assistant to the President, in relation to the appointment of two High Court Judges, at Áras an Uachtaráin [official residence of the President of Ireland], later in the year, 16-20/09/1991; photocopy of Government press release on Taoiseach [Irish Prime Minister]'s nominees for Seanad Éireann [Irish Senate], 10/02/1993; draft text for appointment by MR of Professor Roger Stalley, as Trustee of Chester Beatty Library, 1993; typed memos from Peter Ryan (PR) to Mary Robinson (MR) in relation to proposal from Government to introduce urgent Bill to close loophole in connection with drink driving cases, 23/06/1993, in relation to legislation re "Somalia Peace Enforcement", 24/06/1993, in relation to referral of two bills to the Supreme Court (The Matrimonial Home Bill, 1993 and The Criminal Law (Public Order) Bill, 1993), 11/10/1993, and in relation to the presentation for signature of the Matrimonial Home Bill, 1993, 23/11/1993; photocopy of correspondence between Patrick Boland, Managing Director, Sonas Publishing Company Ltd., and Joseph Brennan, Deputy Secretary to the President, in which Boland had gifted a photo-painting of MR, and planned, without approval, to include it in "The Sonas Collection", and which was being returned unopened, as the project would "present fundamental difficulties insofar as the Office of the President was concerned", with Brennan noting that should the project proceed, the provision of Section 65 of The Trade Marks Act, 1963 would need to be taken into account, and all publicity and advertising would need to clearly state project had not received approval or been sanctioned by the President, 14/07/1994; photocopy of letter from Harold A Whelan to Taoiseach resigning from the Office of Attorney General following his nomination by the Government for appointment by MR to the Office of President of the High Court, of official statement in Irish from Government advising MR as President to accept his resignation, and photocopy of MR's acceptance of the resignation, 11/11/1994; photocopy of Government press release "Establishment of Constitution Review Group", under chairmanship of Dr TK Whitaker, 27/04/1995; typed document from Dept of the Environment, sent to MR, giving results of the Referendum of 24 November 1995 [15th Amendment Dissolution of Marriage: removed the constitutional prohibition on divorce, and allowed for the dissolution of a marriage provided specified conditions were satisfied], with cover note from Colm Butler noting the Bill had not been presented yet for signature, 14-15/06/1996 [it was signed on 17th]; typed note from PR relating to the Family Law (Divorce) Bill, 1996, giving reasoning behind MR's decision not to consult with the Council of State on it or refer it to the Supreme Court, 22/11/1996; correspondence between MR and Ms Annette O'Connell, Registrar, Tribunal of Inquiry (Dunnes Payments), in which MR responds that she had not personally received any payment from Dunnes Holding Company, and that she had become aware a donation was made to the Labour party for her Presidential campaign, which would need to be queried directly Mr Ruairi Quinn, Director of Elections, 03-11/03/1997.

Ref: P143/4/14/1

Mary Robinson joined the Labour Party in late July 1976. Whilst a member of the party, she ran for Dáil Éireann [lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature)], including the 1981 general election for Dublin West, but failed to win a seat. She also represented Labour as a Senator from 1976 until 1985, although also ran as an independent candidate prior and post this period [see P143/2/2]. In November 1985, she resigned from the Labour party as a matter of principle because of how she felt the Unionist community in Northern Ireland was treated and excluded during the Anglo-Irish Agreement consultations and negotiations [see P143/2/3/8].

She would continue to work closely with former Labour colleagues, following her resignation from the party, as can be seen in her legal and legislative work [See P143/1/2 and P143/1/3], and would later accept their invitation to be their nominee for role of President of Ireland, although she insisted on running as an independent candidate [see P143/4/1].

Material in this subseries is arranged chronologically where possible and consists of correspondence, reports, research material, flyers, newspaper cuttings and electoral maps.

This subseries consists of material relating to Mary Robinson (MR)'s work with KAUST [King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia] as a member of extraordinary 20-member international Board of Trustees.