Mary Robinson attended the Queens Film Theatre the other night, 30 July 2024, for the preview of a new documentary about her life aptly named Mrs Robinson. Directed by Aoife Kelleher, the documentary is about Mary’s life, in her words, “warts and all”, up to now. The preview screening was then followed by a Q&A with Mary Robinson, hosted by Kathy Clugston.
I was only 5 in 1990, when Mary upset the apple cart and became Ireland’s first female President, where upon her victory Mary thanked the woman of Ireland, “who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system”. It shocked me to hear audience members admit that their relatives still, to this day, have never confessed to their husbands/ fathers that they voted for her. Ireland, in relation to human rights as a country, is unrecognisable since then.
Mary’s story is incredible but the undertone of the film, for me was just as important. As she moved through various positions campaigning for human rights, the global context was the visible erosion of some of the Western world’s commitment to upholding human rights when it suited and the devastating effect that these decisions are having in all corners of the world today.
For me though, the takeaway from the evening wasn’t Mary’s legacy, it was Mary today. I think it would be fair to say that she hijacked her own Q&A session and used it as a platform to passionately share her current project, Project Dandelion. It was palpable to me that she has little interest in revisiting her past and all of her being is focused on the future, and her current passion, climate justice.
It is a harder sell to get people moved by climate justice than human rights, as she said herself, it’s not statistics that we need it’s to show “heart”. She is using her lifetime of experience and network of women’s groups to take this forward. It worked back in 1990, perhaps she can once again move people to ‘rock the system’ and given her track record I wouldn’t count her out because to rip off the name of another well known film, “there’s something about Mary”.
Sarah Kirkwood is from Belfast and works as a medical secretary.
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