Glór an Deoraí - Irish Emigrants Voice
VOTES FOR THE IRISH ABROAD IN IRISH ELECTIONS
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Glór an Deoraí - Irish Emigrants Voice VOTES FOR THE IRISH ABROAD IN IRISH ELECTIONS |
Professor Mary McAleese (46) LLB, MA, MIL, FRSA. Pro Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast and Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. Director of Channel 4 Television, of the publicly quoted major utility Northern Ireland Electricity and of the Royal Group of Hospitals Trust. She was a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Trade and Investment in Ireland and the follow-up Pittsburgh Conference in 1996.
Born Mary Leneghan, Belfast, 27 June 1951. Her father is from Croghan, Co Roscommon and her mother is from Maghera, Co Derry. Mary's father had a famous pub in the Falls area of Belfast, the Long Bar on Leeson Street. After losing business and home in Belfast due to sectarian violence, Mary's parents moved in the early 1970s to Rostrevor, Co Down.
Mary is the eldest of nine children. Family holidays were spent in Roscommon and Mary still takes breaks there, at her grandparents' cottage at Croghan.
Mary attended secondary school on the Falls Road in Belfast and went on to study law at Queen's University Belfast, graduating with an Honours LLB in 1973. She studied to be a barrister and was called to the Northern Ireland Bar in 1974 where she then took up practice, mainly in criminal and family law work
In 1975, at the age of 24, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology, Trinity College Dublin, engaging in considerable research on the Constitution, prisons, computerisation of prison records, child custody and attitudes to crime.
In 1979, she joined RTE as a current affairs journalist and presenter on Frontline and later Today Tonight. She returned to the Reid Professorship at Trinity in 1981, continuing part time with RTE, presenting the first dedicated EU current affairs programme, Europa, as well as a weekly radio programme of mixed current affairs and light entertainment and a summer programme on the courts.
In 1987, Mary was appointed Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies which trains barristers and solicitors for the legal profession in Northern Ireland. She is credited with reinventing the institute after a difficult period prior to 1987. It is regarded as one of the most pioneering departments in Queen's University.
Mary continues as its director and since 1994 has also been a Pro Vice-Chancellor of Queen's, making her a member of the small senior management team which runs the university. She is the first female in the history of the university to hold one of the three Pro Vice-Chancellor positions. She has established outreach campuses of Queen's at Armagh and Omagh and has developed links between these and Dublin City University and other universities in the Republic.
Mary is regularly invited as a guest lecturer and has spoken at the William Mitchell Law School, Minneapolis, the International School, Paris, Bristol University, Institute of Advocacy, Oxford, Newcastle University, was a course consultant at Nottingham Law School and the University of Wales, is an external examiner for the King's Ian, Dublin, and advised the joint forum on legal training in the Republic of Ireland.
Mary married Martin Mc Aleese in 1976. Martin played with the Antrim Minors and was captain of the team in 1969. Martin trained and worked as an accountant and then qualified as a dentist. He now practices as a dentist in Crossmaglen and Bessbrook, Co Armagh.
Martin moved to Dublin in 1972 and trained with Stokes, Kennedy, Crowley chartered accountants in Dublin. He later worked as financial controller for an Aer Lingus subsidiary. He went back to full-time education at Trinity College Dublin in 1980 to train as a dentist.
Mary and Martin married in 1976 and lived first in Scholarstown, Co Dublin for a short period and then for almost 12 years near Ratoath, Co Meath. The couple have three children, Emma(15) and twins SaraMai and Justin(12), who were born while Mary and Martin lived in Co Meath. The family moved to Rostrevor, Co Down in 1987 when Martin set up practice in Co Armagh. Mary was subsequently appointed Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's.
Mary is familiar with sign language and introduced a module in sign language into solicitor's training in Northern Ireland, the first such course in European legal training. She has a Diploma in Spanish and is a Member of the Institute of Linguists.
She has a long-standing interest in the rights of the disabled, has been involved in anti-sectarian campaigning, has special expertise in communications, has experience in academic leadership and management and in the implementation and management of change, particularly in equal opportunities and fair employment. Mary has a strong track record of involvement in community issues and experience at board level of major companies.
She was a member of the Catholic Church Episcopal Delegation to the New Ireland Forum in 1984, a founder member of the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas and an early campaigner on behalf of the Maguire family, the Birmingham 6 and the Guildford 4. She was a member of the Catholic Church's five-person delegation, led by Cardinal Daly and Archbishop Brady in December 1996, to the North Commission on Contentious Parades in Northern Ireland.
She has been widely published and has been the subject of recent Ulster Television and RTE Radio documentaries. She has presented a series of radio programmes for BBC Radio Ulster and Radio 4 and is a regular contributor to newspapers, journals and radio and TV programmes. She has been invited to be a guest lecturer in Sydney Australia.
Ms. Mary Banotti | Ms. Mary McAleese | Mr. Derek Nally | Ms. Adi Roche | Ms. Rosemary Scallon (Dana)