By the standards of the average United Nations bureaucrat, Mary Robinson has performed a creditable job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. But by her own very high standards, and bearing in mind the high-flown promises made for her during her campaign for the job, Mrs Robinson's performance has been disappointing.
No amount of pre-planned media presentation can disguise the fact that the former Irish President is leaving her post prematurely, with the job of defending human rights and of reforming UNHCHR only half done. Only four years into a posting that was never going to be less than challenging, Mrs Robinson has said she's had enough and now wishes to contribute from outside the "constraints" of the UN.
She is entitled to her decision and will no doubt make a major contribution elsewhere. But it's unlikely any other post will offer her the same profile, access and budget. And where does this leave the organisation she came to rescue 3 1/2 years ago? What of the millions facing persecution for whom Mrs Robinson held up a candle of hope?
It's one thing to go on a lecture tour of the world, telling recalcitrant regimes how to treat their citizens properly. But it's another thing to get stuck in - and stay stuck in - in smoke-filled negotiating rooms, staying until deals are struck that give meaningful protection to those who need it.
By failing to stay on for a second term, Mrs Robinson has shown she lacks the stamina that is so necessary in such a job. The same woman who doggedly pursued so many cases through the Irish courts in an earlier era has seemed to lose heart relatively quickly.
Remember how much political capital Ireland invested in the campaign to secure her appointment. The Department of Foreign Affairs lobbied for her worldwide, political favours were called in on several continents and there was general support for her decision to vacate the Irish presidency before completing her full term. Now, just when Ireland has taken its seat on the UN Security Council, Mrs Robinson is bowing out.
Perhaps the full story within the UN has yet to be told. Within months of her appointment, she accused the UN of "losing the plot" and criticism of the organisation has remained a theme, right up to her resignation announcement. The UNHCHR was, by all accounts, in a deplorable and demoralised state before she moved to Geneva.
However, has much changed? Mrs Robinson brought in new staff and reorganised the body. Her high profile increased the profile of UNHCHR. She trained staff and "mainstreamed" human rights in the UN system, both laudable achievements but difficult to evaluate.
At the same time, her term was marked by internal frictions. Her deputy Enrique ter Horst left after only eight months in the job, reportedly because of personal differences with his boss. Last November, the UN rapporteur on Burma resigned, citing a lack of financial and administrative support.
Her main bugbear was funding. UNHCHR's budget doubled under her stewardship, but this wasn't enough. Last year it had a budget of £15 million, only 2 per cent of the overall UN budget. However, an appeal for funds brought in an additional £29 million last year.
There is nothing unusual about such appeals. UN chiefs are wearily familiar with emergency calls for cash, and the jaded and unsatisfactory responses they engender. Everyone these days, from university heads to hospital administrators, has to dirty their hands with fundraising, and no one likes it. Generally, they just get on with it.
Every job, too, has its learning curve, and Mrs Robinson certainly had hers. The first year in Geneva was marked by public and messy spats with Algeria, Cambodia and Iran. She fought with the Rwandan government, leaving her own staff "seething with anger" at their boss's behaviour. The High Commissioner was usually on the side of the angels but in general these disputes only won her enemies without producing any tangible results.
In later years, her interventions became more measured and accurate. Her criticisms of Russia and China were well aimed and productive.
Which only makes her departure all the more lamentable. Mrs Robinson could have used a second term, not just to be a voice for the downtrodden, but to fight for tangible, defined ways of improving people's lives. Her decision to quit, instead of building on the foundations laid, disappoints. The only people who can take pleasure from it are those despots who were in her aim.
And who will now follow her - another senior Western politician whose ambition demands a wider stage but whose personal commitment to the long-term problems of the job is only short term?
Paul Cullen is Development Correspondent of The Irish Times