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- WORLD, Page 77World NotesIRELANDHere's to You, Mrs. Robinson
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- In one week Ireland's church and state both received a
- shock. A woman who has battled Roman Catholic teaching on
- contraception, divorce and homosexuality was elected President, a
- largely ceremonial position. And the Vatican appointed Cahal
- Daly, a fierce critic of the Irish Republican Army, as Primate
- of All-Ireland. The Belfast-based bishop's elevation pleased
- politicians and religious leaders in Ulster and London, where
- there is hope that his outspoken condemnations of violence might
- help quell sectarian terrorism.
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- Mary Robinson, the candidate of the minority Labour Party,
- an organization she quit five years ago, impressed voters with
- her articulate, polished image. The first woman to capture the
- presidency, Robinson is as notable for her political radicalism
- as for her gender, and her election signaled a shift away from
- traditional attitudes among the electorate.
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- The new President's reforming views are hardly likely to
- find favor with the theo logically conservative Daly, but
- together they could prove a powerful combination against the
- I.R.A.
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