Queen’s University Belfast has conferred the Chancellor’s Award for Civic Leadership upon University of Limerick Chancellor, Mary Harney, in recognition of her significant contribution to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
The UL Chancellor was presented with a medal by Hilary Rodham Clinton, Chancellor of Queens University Belfast, as part of a signature conference to mark 25 years since the Belfast-Good Friday Agreement this Monday.
Ms Harney was one of several high-profile awardees of the Chancellor's Medal for Achievement in Public Service and Civic Leadership, including former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Dr Mo Mowlam (posthumously), the first female Secretary of State and Professor Monica McWilliams, the first female leader of a Northern Ireland Political party and the first female Human rights commissioner.
Loretta Brennan Glucksman, former chair of the UL Foundation, received the Chancellor’s Award for Services to the Community and Civic Leadership.
Speaking from Queen’s University Belfast, UL President Professor Kerstin Mey said: “We congratulate our Chancellor, Mary Harney, on being honoured by Queens University Belfast with the Chancellor’s award for Civic Leadership. It is particularly apt that this award was conferred on her by Hilary Clinton, who has made such an outstanding contribution to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
“I can attest to the commitment, energy, intellectual rigour, and integrity that she brings to her role as Chairperson of our University’s Governing Authority. She gives of her talents and of her time very generously and her contributions have hugely benefited this University. Mary has left a lasting mark on public life on this Island of which she can be very proud, and we are very proud of her.”
Speaking about the awards, Secretary Clinton said: “It gives me great pleasure to award the Chancellor’s Medal for Civic Leadership to women from across Northern Ireland and beyond who have made a significant contribution to society.
“For a long time, we saw politics being played out by men, and men only. When I visited in 1995, I saw at first-hand how the women on the ground were making an indelible mark and helping shape the peace process in a variety of ways.
“I am so pleased that these awards fully recognise the commitment, skills and determination of a diverse group of women, from across the political and civic spectrum, who helped secure and drive froward peace on this island.
“I am pleased to recognise all of you, I am proud of your impact and I am thankful for what you have done. Congratulations.”
Mary Harney’s political career has been characterised by a series for firsts. She was the youngest member appointed to Seanad Éireann in her time and she continued to make history throughout her 34-year long career in politics. Mary was the first woman to lead a political party in Ireland and she is the longest serving female Minister in the State’s history.
During her career in politics Mary held a number of significant ministerial portfolios (including Enterprise, Trade & Employment; Health and Children; and Environmental Protection).
In the period leading up to the Good Friday Agreement the Government of which Mary Harney served as Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) worked tirelessly towards achieving consensus on the establishment of a devolved government for the North based on power sharing between nationalists and unionists.
The Good Friday Agreement brought much-needed stability to the political institutions in the North and brought decades of violence to an end.