Ireland’s first female President to give Christmas university lecture

Published on 22/11/2012 11:22

MARY Robinson, the former Irish President and human rights campaigner, is to deliver Dundee University’s annual Christmas Lecture.

• Ireland’s first female Irish President to give Dundee University’s annual Christmas lecture

• Mary Robinson to appear on 8 December to discuss career

She will discuss her career, which saw her become Ireland’s first female President before serving as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the university’s Dalhousie Building on Saturday, 8 December.

Professor Pete Downes, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university, said: “We are delighted be able to welcome Mary Robinson to Dundee. Her career has been truly remarkable, and she has been an inspiration to countless people around the globe.

“Not only was she the first female President of Ireland, she went on to transform the position and proved to be one of the most astute political leaders the country has ever known. She played a major role in improving Anglo-Irish relations and in creating the culture of mutual respect and dialogue that eventually led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

“She has since worked tirelessly to promote human rights around the world, and helped give a voice to the poor and marginalised whose pleas for justice and respect would otherwise have remained unheard.”

The Christmas lecture is held in conjunction with Dundee City Council and was inaugurated in 2007 to commemorate the university’s 40th anniversary and its close relationship with the city of Dundee and its people.

Councillor Bob Duncan, the Lord Provost of Dundee, said, “Mary Robinson is a global figure with a reputation that speaks for itself, and so it is fitting that she should be presenting this, the fifth Dundee Christmas Lecture.”