Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland: “We’re better than this”

By William Milne

“We’re better than this,” Mary McAleese tells me. This quote sums up her life and legacy. As President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011, the theme of her presidency was ‘building bridges’, and throughout our interview I get a sense of her tireless work to ensure peace and reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics, in the wake of the Troubles.

McAleese was the first President of Ireland to be born in Northern Ireland. In fact, she could not even vote in her own Presidential election in 1997, since she was from Northern Ireland. She grew up around Protestants, many of whom were her friends. However, “there had always been a strong undercurrent of sectarian tensions that sometimes outcrop in violence.” Eventually, as a teenager, the Troubles broke out. In fact, she mentions that she lived in the parish with the highest incidence of sectarian violence during the Troubles. 

However, she had not grown up in a particularly sectarian family. “My parents were country people […] they hadn’t really grown up with that sectarianism that was endemic, particularly in Belfast.” Growing up, she had many Protestant friends, her neighbours. However, in the 1960s, when she was a teenager, sectarian tensions were stoked up.

I believe firmly and emphatically that violence isn’t the way to solve anything

mary mcaleese

She saw the viciousness of the Troubles firsthand. “We lived in the heart of it. We lost our home. Loyalists came with machine guns. They emptied the machine guns through our windows. Tried to kill us. My younger brother, who was profoundly deaf. They tried to kill him, managed to almost do so. They tried to kill my father.” 

Despite being at the heart of the Troubles, McAleese differed from those taking part in such sectarian violence. “I had never any time for them [the IRA] because I am an old-fashioned Republican in the tradition of Daniel O’Connell. I believe very firmly and emphatically that violence isn’t the way to solve anything, but it’s a way to make things worse. And so I never, ever saw an answer to our problems as being anything other than something that we could use the tools of persuasion to try and change. I believe that people can be changed.” She believed that the rule of law, persuasion, Parliament, and peaceful mass meetings could bring about change. This was the “constitutional nationalism” she adhered to.

Seeing others join in with violence, McAleese knew that “We can be better than this. We can do this differently. We should do this differently. The laws are against us. Let’s try and change the laws. Let’s become lawyers. Let’s become advocates for change. Let’s become, you know, parliamentarians.”

McAleese was also strongly influenced by the advent of the European Union, and what it was indicative of. “I love the idea of that, that neighbours who had slaughtered each other in their millions would now work together in partnership.” The fact that McAleese sees Protestants, including those who tried to kill her family, as friends and neighbours highlights why she was the perfect fit for the Presidency. She wanted people to realise that although there are massive differences between them, they are also neighbours and need to live with love for each other. This, she makes clear, is where ‘building bridges’ came from.

I am interested in how, as President, McAleese put her themes of reconciliation into practice. The role of President is largely ceremonial, and so “From day one, we started to invite people from Northern Ireland to come, particularly from the loyalist Protestant community, who over their dead bodies, would never have had a cup of tea with an Irish president. We invited them, and little by little by little, because we were not about the business of photo ops, couldn’t be bothered with that nonsense. We were serious of purpose. We wanted to make friends and we wanted to develop and sustain those friendships. So, um, little by little, they began to trust us and began to come and began to come in larger numbers, and we could see how it was getting easier and easier.”

We got into the car, we drove to Omagh and the first person to greet me with a big hug

Mary mcaleese

McAleese’s way of leading worked, so much so that when it came to the end of her first term, in 2004, no one bothered to stand against her. She left office in 2011 with a 92% approval rating, undoubtedly leaving her mark on Irish politics. She did not get hung up on sectarian division, but sought to bring people together. Coming to the Presidency in the context of historic work by both sides to bring about reconciliation, she “had a lot to work with”. Her success lies in doing her best to ensure peace continued.

Perhaps one of the most historic moments of her presidency came at its end, when she hosted Queen Elizabeth II for a state visit. This was historic, since it was the first time a British monarch had visited Ireland since it gained independence. McAleese remarks that every time she met the Duke of Edinburgh, he would remind her that “partition was never meant to be permanent. The island of Ireland and the people of Ireland were always meant to work towards reconciliation.”

As President, McAleese often operated in a pastoral capacity, dealing with sadness and suffering on a regular basis. I wonder if she ever felt overwhelmed. McAleese did not hesitate to immediately pinpoint the one time she was overwhelmed: the Omagh bombing. The bombing, conducted by the Real IRA, was carried out on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh and killed 29 people, as well as injuring 220 others. The bombing caused outrage on an international scale.

“On a beautiful August day, August 15th, walking in a country lane with my children, we got news of what had happened in Omagh,” McAleese recounts. “In that moment, I felt so, just so frustrated. It wasn’t even an anger. It was just an all enveloping frustration. How dare these people.”

“We got into the car, we drove to Omagh and the first person to to greet me with a big hug, crying, was the unionist mayor of Omagh and the head of the council in Omagh. And, uh, you know, we were just human beings who had the same vision for humanity, which is that we can talk through differences without hurting each other in this vile and venal way.”

Although deeply tragic, this moment was monumental for McAleese. Instead of totally crushing her so that she would lose any hope, it reignited a determination within her. “I just picked up on the spirit of determination that the Good Friday Agreement was not going to fall into the wastebasket. That was the fear.” McAleese was not going to let violence and hatred by the Real IRA put to rest her dreams of humans treating each other as humans.

McAleese will rightly go down in history for her tireless work to help mend deep wounds that existed on the island of Ireland

Mary Mcaleese

Another major part of McAleese’s career has been her thoughts on the Catholic Church, and her ardent campaigning for human rights within it. “Here I was in Northern Ireland, where I was a second-class citizen by virtue of being Catholic. But in my own church I was a second-class citizen by virtue of being a woman. That struck me that I couldn’t separate those two things. I couldn’t argue from for equality and human rights for Catholics without arguing also for equality, for UN human rights, for women within the Catholic Church.”

McAleese isn’t lying, she is authentic. All the way back in 1975, she was a founding member of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, serving as its legal advisor. Why did she do this? “It was a human rights issue for me. And that pitched me right up against my church, as you know, because it still remains one of the great bastions of homophobia.”

McAleese’s problems with Catholic teaching did not repel her from it, rather it only fuelled her determination to study canon law and attempt to force change. After leaving office, she studied canon law in Rome for five years. She completed a PhD on children’s rights and obligations, having noticed that, despite civil society uncovering child abuse with the Church, not much work had been done within the Church.

Throughout the interview, McAleese’s intellect, coupled with her heartfelt passion for people getting on, as neighbours, is clear. McAleese witnessed the horrors of the Troubles, of division, and of violence. She could have joined in. She could have righted wrongs done against her family. But, “we’re better than this.” McAleese will rightly go down in history for her tireless work to help mend deep wounds that existed on the island of Ireland. 

Image: Griffith College Marketing team via Wikimedia Commons