McAleese to give Notre Dame speech

President Mary McAleese will give the commencement address at the US University of Notre Dame in the spring.

McAleese, a former law professor and vice-chancellor of Queen’s University in Belfast, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree during the ceremony on May 21 in South Bend, Indiana.

“As an attorney, journalist, scholar and now president, Mary McAleese is an inspiring role model for women, a fierce champion for peace, and a passionate voice within the Catholic Church,” said the Reverend John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president.

President McAleese, a Belfast-raised Catholic elected in 1997, has made building relations with the Protestant community a top priority. She is Ireland’s first president to come from the North.

She is married to Dr Martin McAleese, who in 2004 received an honorary degree from Notre Dame during the dedication of Dublin’s historic O’Connell House as a base for the university’s programmes in Ireland.