Editing Mary Robinson (section)

== Early life and background (1944–1969) ==
Born in [[Ballina, County Mayo|Ballina]], [[County Mayo]] in 1944, she is the daughter of two medical doctors.<ref name="brita" /> Her father was Aubrey Bourke, of Ballina, while her mother was Tessa Bourke ({{nee|O'Donnell}}) from [[Carndonagh]] in [[Inishowen]], [[County Donegal]].{{Sfn|Horgan|1997|p=13}} Mary was raised, along with her brothers, at Victoria House (Numbers 1 and 2 Victoria Terrace), her parents' residence in the centre of Ballina.<ref>'Ballina's Victoria House comes into State ownership' (''The Western People'', Tuesday, 5 November 2019). https://westernpeople.ie/2019/11/05/ballinas-victoria-house-comes-into-state-ownership/ {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215101613/https://westernpeople.ie/2019/11/05/ballinas-victoria-house-comes-into-state-ownership/ |date=15 February 2022}}</ref> Her family had links with many diverse political strands in Ireland. One ancestor was a leading activist in the [[Irish National Land League]] of Mayo and the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]] (IRB); an uncle, [[Paget Bourke|Sir Paget John Bourke]], was knighted by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] after a career as a judge in the [[Colonial Service]]; while another relative was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] nun. Some branches of the family were members of the [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] [[Church of Ireland]] while others were Catholics. More distant relatives included [[William Liath de Burgh]], [[Tibbot MacWalter Kittagh Bourke]], and [[Charles Bourke]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=principled |first1=Accueil > Partout dans le monde > Asie > UN High Commissioner must uphold |last2=crisis |first2=coherent response to China's human rights |date=3 May 2022 |title=UN High Commissioner must uphold principled and coherent response to China's human rights crisis |url=https://www.ldh-france.org/un-high-commissioner-must-uphold-principled-and-coherent-response-to-chinas-human-rights-crisis/ |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=Ligue des droits de l'Homme |language=fr-FR |archive-date=20 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520075546/https://www.ldh-france.org/un-high-commissioner-must-uphold-principled-and-coherent-response-to-chinas-human-rights-crisis/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

She attended [[Mount Anville Secondary School]] in Dublin<ref name="dubli" /> and studied law at [[Trinity College Dublin]] (where she was [[List of Scholars of Trinity College Dublin|elected a scholar]] in 1965).<ref name="tdcli" /> As the Catholic Church's ban on Catholics attending Trinity was still in place at the time of Bourke's application, her parents had to first request permission from [[John Charles McQuaid|Archbishop McQuaid]] to allow her to attend.{{sfn|O'Sullivan|1993|p=23}} She was one of three women in her class in Trinity,{{sfn|O'Sullivan|1993|p=26}} and graduated in 1967 with first-class honours.<ref name="tdcli" /> An outspoken critic of some Catholic church teachings, during her inaugural address as auditor of the Dublin University Law Society in 1967 she advocated removing the prohibition of divorce from the [[Constitution of Ireland|Irish Constitution]], eliminating the ban on the use of contraceptives, and decriminalizing homosexuality and suicide.<ref name="IT Feb 1967" /> She furthered her studies at the [[King's Inns]] and was called to the [[Bar of Ireland|Irish Bar]] in 1967.<ref name="tcdbio" /> She was awarded a fellowship to attend [[Harvard Law School]], receiving an [[Master of Laws|LL.M]] in 1968.<ref name="HLS 2019" />