Mary Patricia McAleese, née Leneghan (b. 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK), was the eighth president of Ireland (1997-2011). A member of the Fianna Fáil party, she succeeded Mary Robinson, making her the second female president of Ireland, and the first woman in the world to succeed another woman as president. She was reelected unopposed for a second term. McAleese is the first president of Ireland to have come from either Northern Ireland, UK.
Born in north Belfast, she is a Catholic who grew up in a largely Protestant neighbourhood. Loyalists forced her family to leave the area when the Troubles broke out. She studied law at Queen’s University Belfast. In 1975, having spent a year as a practising barrister in Belfast, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology in Trinity College Dublin, succeeding Mary Robinson.
The Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in County Meath, and County Louth, Ireland. In October 2012, Meath County Council proposed renaming the Boyne River Bridge after former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese to honour her contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process.
