Editing Mary Robinson (section)

== Presidency (1990–1997) ==
{{Main|Presidency of Mary Robinson}}
[[File:24. Internationales Management-Gespräch 1994-Mary Robinson-HSGH 022-000751-07.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Robinson gives a speech, 1994]]

=== Inauguration and early term ===

Robinson was inaugurated as the seventh President of Ireland on 3 December 1990. She proved a remarkably popular President, earning the praise of Brian Lenihan himself who, before his death five years later, said that she was a better President than he ever could have been.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Downey |first1=James |title=Decent Man of Ireland |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260710537/?clipping_id=126671267&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjI2MDcxMDUzNywiaWF0IjoxNzIxOTA4NTQ3LCJleHAiOjE3MjE5OTQ5NDd9.gI7ZD6OVDfHvlx8Wu-gNX41hO_Mh5aYvtDS2tRoDGVA |access-date=25 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=2 November 1995 |page=17}}</ref>

In 1991, Robinson was prevented from leaving the country by Charles Haughey's government. The power of the government to prevent the president from leaving the country is enshrined in Article 12.9 of the Irish constitution, which states that "the President shall not leave the State [...] save with the consent of the Government". Robinson had been invited to deliver the prestigious [[BBC]] [[Dimbleby Lecture]], and was to be speaking on the position of women and the family in Ireland. Wary of Robinson's position as a feminist and human rights lawyer, the government prevented her from leaving as they wished to avoid the negative publicity that they believed would arise from a speech they believed would be highly critical of the Irish state.{{Sfn|Morgan|1999|p=260-261}}

=== International relations ===
[[File:President Bill Clinton arrives at Dublin and proceeds on the tarmac with President Mary Robinson and Prime Minister John Bruton.jpg|thumb|right|Robinson greets U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] on a visit to [[Dublin]], 1995]]

In 1992, Robinson travelled to Somalia, which at the time was struck by [[1992 famine in Somalia|famine]]. She then travelled to the UN to make a report of her findings.{{Sfn|Morgan|1999|p=266}} The UN ultimately failed in its effort to relieve the famine, and the United States eventually intervened, ending the famine by March 1993.

In the summer of 1993, Robinson met and shook hands with both [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[Gerry Adams]] (the [[president of Sinn Féin]]), meetings which occurred on two separate occasions. On 27 May,{{Sfn|Morgan|1999|p=266}} Robinson became the first serving Irish president to visit the United Kingdom and meet [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] at [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref name="irtim77" /> She later welcomed visits by senior members of the British royal family, most notably [[Charles III of the United Kingdom|Charles, Prince of Wales]], to her official residence, [[Áras an Uachtaráin]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} In June, a few weeks after her trip to London, Robinson controversially met and shook hands with Gerry Adams in [[Belfast]].{{Sfn|Horgan|1997|p=176}} Dick Spring, now the [[Tánaiste]] and [[Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade|Minister for Foreign Affairs]], had advised her not to meet Adams,{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} whose party was linked with the [[Provisional IRA]]. His disapproval was well-circulated by Irish media.{{Sfn|Morgan|1999|p=267}} However, the Government refused to formally advise her not to meet with him.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} During her various visits to Northern Ireland, she in fact regularly met politicians of all hues, including [[David Trimble]] of the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] and [[John Hume]] of the [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

=== Oireachtas ===

In the previous 52 years, only one address to the [[Oireachtas]] (parliament) had taken place, by President [[Éamon de Valera]] in 1966, on the fiftieth anniversary of the [[Easter Rising]]. Robinson delivered two such addresses. She was also invited to chair a committee to review the workings of the United Nations, but declined when asked to by the [[Government of Ireland]], who feared that her involvement might make it difficult for it to oppose the proposals that would result.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

=== Church and religion ===
[[File:Amnesty International Ireland Conference, Cork, February 1996 (01) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Robinson at the Amnesty International Ireland Conference, February 1996]]

To the surprise of her critics, who had seen her as embodying liberalism that the Catholic Church disapproved of, she had a close working relationship with the Church. She visited Irish nuns and priests abroad regularly, and became the first President to host an Áras reception for the [[Congregation of Christian Brothers|Christian Brothers]]. When on a working trip to Rome, she requested, and was granted, an audience with [[Pope John Paul II]]. Her outfit was condemned by a young priest, Fr [[David O'Hanlon (priest)|David O'Hanlon]], for supposedly breaking Vatican dress codes. The Vatican contradicted O'Hanlon, pointing out that the dress codes had been changed early in John Paul's pontificate – an analysis echoed by Ireland's Catholic Bishops, who distanced themselves from Fr O'Hanlon's comments.<ref name="quote2" />

=== Legislation and popularity ===

As President, she signed two significant bills that she had fought for throughout her political career: a bill to fully liberalise the law on the availability of [[contraceptives]]; and a bill fully decriminalising homosexuality, and which unlike legislation in much of the world at the time, provided for a fully equal [[age of consent]].<ref name="stanford" /> In 1996, she also signed the legalisation of divorce into law.

Robinson was an exceptionally popular president, and halfway through her term of office her popularity rating had reached an unprecedented 93%.<ref name="newsr" />

=== Resignation as president ===
Robinson issued her resignation as president in a message to the {{lang|ga|[[Ceann Comhairle]]|italic=no}} of the {{lang|ga|Dáil|italic=no}}, taking effect on 12 September 1997.<ref name="oire49" /> [[Taoiseach]] [[Bertie Ahern]] said in a statement that her resignation "was not unexpected" and wished her "every success".<ref name="taos3" /> Robinson resigned to take up the appointment as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.<ref name="presi85" /> Upon her resignation as president, the role of President of Ireland was transferred to the [[Presidential Commission (Ireland)|Presidential Commission]] (which comprised the [[Chief Justice of Ireland]], the {{lang|ga|Ceann Comhairle|italic=no}} of {{lang|ga|Dáil Éireann|italic=no}} and the {{lang|ga|[[Cathaoirleach]]|italic=no}} of {{lang|ga|Seanad Éireann|italic=no}}) from 12 September to 11 November 1997, when the new president [[Mary McAleese]] was sworn in. Despite leaving office with just three months remaining in her presidency, Robinson later expressed regret at her early departure, indicating she could have postponed her acceptance of High Commissioner's office.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-01-21 |title= Mary Robinson 'bullied' into leaving presidency early |newspaper= [[The Irish Times]] |url=https://irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/mary-robinson-bullied-into-leaving-presidency-early-1.2970898}}</ref>