Seanad career of Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson
Seanad Éireann Senator
In office 5 November 1969 – 5 July 1989
Personal details
Political party	Independent (before 1977, 1985–present)
Other political affiliations	Labour Party (1977–1985)

The Seanad Éireann career of Mary Robinson (Irish: Máire Mhic Róibín;^[1] née Bourke) began on 11 June 1969 and ended on 5 July 1989. Mary Robinson was elected for a total of seven terms as a member of Seanad Éireann (the Irish senate), always running in the Dublin University constituency. Upon leaving her seat in 1989, she did not seek re-election.

Prior to her election, Bourke had already qualified as a lawyer and been called to the Irish Bar, and had been made the Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin. Her legal work and academic career continued concurrent with her Seanad career. First elected as an independent senator, Robinson joined the Labour Party in July 1976 during her second term as senator. Robinson left the Labour Party in 1985 and thereafter worked as an independent politician.

Known for her dissenting voice, Robinson campaigned against the Catholic Church's influence on the Irish state. A self-professed liberal, her time in the Seanad is most strongly associated with her work on issues such as the legalisation of contraception, the legalisation of divorce, the establishment of women's right to sit on juries, and her involvement with the Wood Quay protests.