DCU Voices

2021 EDITION 35 “Seamus Mallon and David Trimble, the two principal architects of the Good Friday Agreement, and from two communities that were estranged for so long. These two men put peace above everything. They took the risks and they delivered. Senator George Mitchell gave up five years of his life for Ireland. “The Good Friday Agreement remains a real cause for celebration, a cause for hope. It is a roadmap to peace, it’s a work in progress.” In 2017, DCU honoured former US President Bill Clinton.“This man turned out to be quite a friend of Ireland, who made the cause of peace his personal crusade,” says Dr McAleese. There is much for Dr McAleese to be proud about when it comes to the university. He pays special mention to the university’s Access programme, its designation as a ‘University of Sanctuary’, DCU’s Age Friendly initiative (the first of its kind in the world) and DCU becoming the world’s first Autism Friendly University. However, he is most proud of what DCU’s graduates have achieved. In early 2018, under Dr McAleese’s leadership, the Governing Authority of which he is Chair, held every second meeting in the premises of a major employer of DCU graduates. This gave authority members the opportunity to meet with senior partners or managing directors, who would tell them of their experiences working with DCU graduates. DCU is a “young university that has come of age with a good story to tell,” says Dr McAleese. “Why is that? Fundamentally, it is the quality of our graduates who take the good name of DCU wherever they go.” Mindful that the majority of recent graduates have started their working lives ‘virtually’, what advice would he give if he was delivering a final ‘in-person’ graduation address in the Helix? “Every generation has its mountain to climb. This particular Covid mountain affects everyone. But, broadly speaking, it will pass, as have all sorts of challenges and crises in the past.” Speaking of Covid, Dr McAleese fears it may pause any progress made in the area of gender equality. “Working parents are at home with their children, and what I’m “Every generation has its mountain to climb. This particular Covidmountain affects everyone. But, broadly speaking, it will pass, as have all sorts of challenges and crises in the past.” hearing anecdotally - and I can understand this - an unfair portion of the burden of running the house falls on the mother, on the female. And that’s just the reality of it. “I worry about that because when you think of it we move from this into the new reality and you can see that if you have a blended approach to the workplace - where you have two or three days at home, and the rest in the office - those days at home I think will possibly continue with the unfair portion of the burden of running the house falling on the mother. “I worry also about the fact that if you are away from the workplace… that absence from the workplace may very well jeopardise their promotional prospects. They’re ‘out of the loop’ for those two days and the ‘loop’ is where those decisions are made. We just need to be very, very careful,” he says. As he bid farewell to DCU, Dr McAleese says the university has left a lasting impression. “DCU has left an imprint on me - it has been a real privilege. I have some lovely memories, and I have met the most impressive people,” he says. So what’s he going to do next? “Whatever it is, it will be entirely different. Learn a language maybe.” Dr MartinMcAleese onstage at The Helix, DCU