The Mary Robinson Centre, which is supported by Mayo County Council will be established at Mary Robinson's birthplace - a three storey period building at Victoria Terrace on the banks of the River Moy in Ballina. It will include a visitor centre and an academic research facility, supported by NUI Galway and focused on scholarly research and education in the fields of human rights and women's leadership.
Mary Robinson is making the archive of her lifelong work in the human rights world available as the centrepiece of the educational facility. As academic partner to the project, NUI Galway, an internationally recognised leader in the field of human rights and gender research, will digitise this archive and bring students from all over the world to Ballina to engage with the archive.
The project will involve the refurbishment of Victoria House. Parts of the house will be recreated to its original condition at the time of Mary Robinson's birth in 1944, to which a new annex will be constructed on an adjoining site to house the educational functions of the centre.
The realisation of The Mary Robinson Centre will bring the symbolic light in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin back to Mary’s childhood home in Ballina, where as a young girl, she dreamed big dreams. By showcasing the great achievements of Mary’s career and fostering the empowerment of future generations of human rights and women’s leadership advocates, the Centre and its work will make a demonstrable contribution both to Mary’s homeplace of Ballina and the critical areas of human rights and women’s equality.
Mary Robinson is making the archive of her lifelong work in the human rights world available as the centrepiece of the educational facility. As academic partner to the project, NUI Galway, an internationally recognised leader in the field of human rights and gender research, will digitise this archive and bring students from all over the world to Ballina to engage with the archive.
The project will involve the refurbishment of Victoria House. Parts of the house will be recreated to its original condition at the time of Mary Robinson's birth in 1944, to which a new annex will be constructed on an adjoining site to house the educational functions of the centre.
The realisation of The Mary Robinson Centre will bring the symbolic light in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin back to Mary’s childhood home in Ballina, where as a young girl, she dreamed big dreams. By showcasing the great achievements of Mary’s career and fostering the empowerment of future generations of human rights and women’s leadership advocates, the Centre and its work will make a demonstrable contribution both to Mary’s homeplace of Ballina and the critical areas of human rights and women’s equality.
Significance for Ballina and the West of Ireland
The
inspiration for this project came from the people of Ballina and Mayo, to whom
Mary is gifting her considerable archive and, indeed, papers arising from her
ongoing work. As
a visitor attraction and third level outreach centre with strong links to the
Irish Centre for Human Rights and the School of Global Women's Studies in
Galway, the Mary Robinson Centre will provide
a tremendous boost to the tourism economy of Ballina, Mayo and the wider West
of Ireland region by attracting tourists, students and researchers from
throughout Ireland and abroad.
