Women advance to positions of prominence in Irish politics

Newspapers in this country have done a pretty good job of keeping readers informed of what is going on in Northern Ireland politics-that is, about the agreement of Sinn Fein to the Mitchell principles, and the possibility now of real dialogue between Sinn Fein (representing the extreme Catholic nationalists who want to unite North and South) and the Ulster Unionist Party (representing one strand of Protestants who wish to maintain the Union with Britain). One problem about the wire services in the United States, however, is that they tend to concentrate on this aspect of Irish politics to the exclusion of much else. Although the "Northern Question" is the most important political topic in Ireland, it is not the only topic, nor is it always the most interesting topic.

From what I have seen, there has been little mention so far in the American media of the real political story of last week in Ireland-the nomination of the four candidates for Ireland's presidency. Under normal circumstances, the race for the presidency of Ireland would be an interesting story all by itself. This race in particular, however, is extremely newsworthy for the simple fact that all four candidates are women: Mary Banotti, Mary McAleese, Adi Roche and Rosemary "Dana" Scallon. It is the first time in the history of my country that this has happened, and I think this fact should be broadcast loud and wide across the globe. It presents a much better picture-and indeed a much more accurate picture-of what Ireland is really like today as a modern European country. And yes, Ireland is a European country and an important member of the European Community. It never ceases to amaze me that North Americans are surprised to learn that Ireland is part of Europe even though it is not part of the mainland.

One of the things which amuses me about the American presidential races is that, at least in the last two of them, the political role -as opposed to the mere publicity-image role-of the first lady became increasingly important, without it ever being a real possibility that a woman could ever become the president of the United States. When Bill Clinton ran against George Bush, everyone in Ireland with whom I talked said Hillary Clinton was the best candidate for the job. Elizabeth Dole also proved herself to be an extremely adept political speaker in her husband's campaign last year. But, despite the many advances that have been made in this country against chauvinism and sexism at all levels of society and government, I still think that the American public is far from ready for a woman president with a "first man" beside her.

Ireland, however, has already had a woman in the job: President Mary Robinson, who, having finished her seven-year term of office, is now going off to occupy a palace in Switzerland as the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights, with her eye firmly placed on the job of Secretary General of the United Nations. As president of Ireland she completely reinvented the role, with the result that it will be genuinely difficult for a man ever to fill her pointed shoes. This is in part the reason why all of the contenders this year are women, and why all of the politically sponsored contenders are successful, intelligent women with backgrounds in law, humanitarianism or European politics, which were three of Robinson's strengths-she was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Harvard Law School, and she brought various important civil rights cases to the European Court of Justice. Mary Banotti is a member of the European Parliament; Mary McAleese is a professor of law at the University of Ulster; and Adi Roche is a humanitarian aid crusader who was voted European of the Year in 1996.

I say all of the politically sponsored candidates have this Robinson-style background because the fourth, Rosemary Scallon, is an extreme Catholic who has lived for the past eight years in Birmingham, Ala., presenting a Catholic television show and speaking out at various rallies here and elsewhere against abortion, divorce and contraception. She did not get political backing but managed to get sponsored by local government in Ireland-a sort of backdoor route. The fact that she did get on the ticket can be put down to the simple fact that she became a national figure at the age of 16 as the first ever Irish winner of the the European Song Contest. She is not a serious contender, however. I predict that Mary Banotti will win and that once again Ireland will lead the way in the empowerment of women in Europe.

James Mahon is a third-year graduate student in the Department of Philosophy.