Two former taoisigh, Mr Nicholas Robinson and many politicians gathered in the National Museum in Kildare Street, Dublin, yesterday for the launch by the Taoiseach of the authorised biography of Mrs Mary Robinson.
Dr Garret FitzGerald and Mr Albert Reynolds, as well as the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, were among the large attendance. The former president was not present.
Mary Robinson - The Authorised Biography, by Olivia O'Leary and Helen Burke, published by Hodder and Stoughton, is based on interviews with the subject. It chronicles her progress to the presidency and her term of office, while giving new details of the difficulties she had with government in executing her role as she saw it.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, called it an excellent book about a hugely important Irish woman. It contained many important insights and episodes which he took to be absolutely correct. Those who had to deal with Mrs Robinson in her new role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should read the book, he said, because it showed that this was a woman who meant business.
She had the fullest support of the Irish Government and people, and her briefing on China had shown him just how important her job was. The Chinese government had been deeply impressed with her and with the challenges she had put to it. But as someone who was only over a year in office himself, he knew that Mrs Robinson's first year would not be easy. Performance was measured over years, not months.
Mary Robinson, Mr Ahern said, had a vibrancy in her presidency and he sensed the same vibrancy in President McAleese.