Age-old debate rears its head in race for the Áras

“MARY must be seen on the move.” This was one of the key pieces of advice in a document of planning for Mary Robinson’s presidential campaign 21 years ago.

Her team put forward an image of a “working president” in an effort to win a place in the Áras that had for so long been seen as a retirement home for older politicians.

And so we were presented with images of an energetic woman meeting young people by graffiti-stained walls in troubled housing estates, walking with locals along stone roads of Inishmore and rolling up her sleeves to help out in a Dublin creche.