We need to be prepared to have multi-stakeholder, well-managed partnerships. That can be very effective. We saw this happen at international level with the UN Convention on Landmines, for example, where some governments didn't want to go forward, but enough governments did and with them many NGOs. At international level we need to see this as the 21st century way of doing things.
Mary RobinsonIf you are small and don't particularly want credit for what you are doing, you can achieve a lot.
Mary RobinsonThe UN may not be very effective but I am a fan of the idea of the United Nations. I have been there, I know the problems. To parody Winston Churchill: It is the worst system, except we don't have any other.
Mary RobinsonYou can convene a wider cross-section if you have no turf to defend, because then you don't cut across anyone else's agenda and you can achieve a great deal.
Mary RobinsonIf we took away barriers to women's leadership, we would solve the climate change problem a lot faster
Mary RobinsonIn a society where the rights and potential of women are constrained, no man can be truly free. He may have power, but he will not have freedom.
Mary RobinsonWe have long had emigration in Ireland. But the nature of emigration has changed. With ferries to Britain and the continent, as well as air travel, emigration isn't the cutยญoff it used to be. In addition, some of our young people are being educated to levels beyond our present capacity to provide the jobs they are qualified to do. So they go abroad. Many want to come back, especially when they have children they would want to be raised in the Irish society and in the Irish educational system.
Mary Robinson