There’s something about Mary
Earlier this month the former MEP Mary Banotti launched her new book There’s Something about Mary, a series of interviews with ‘Marys’ in political life, including Meath East TD and Minister of State Mary Wallace.
Minister Wallace stated “I thoroughly enjoyed my involvement in the book and congratulate Mary Banotti on her excellent presentation of this entertaining and informative read”
Most Irish women who have achieved success in political life, including presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese have been called Mary. All female Ministers in the present Government are called Mary. Mary Banotti interviewed all the political Marys including Minister Mary Wallace to find out their views on their name, their families, their political backgrounds and their aspirations.
In the book we get an insight into how Mary Wallace started in Politics, the influence of her parents, being a parent herself, her work as a Minister and being elected.
In the book Minister Wallace reveals:
1. How she Started in Politics
“I worked for ten years in Blanchardstown Hospital. While I was working in the hospital my father died and I was co-opted on to Meath County Council but I retained my day job because at that stage working on the county council was very much a voluntary commitment. My co-option was in 1982, then in 1985 I was selected to stand for the Dail but the election did not take place until 1987”.
2. The influence of her parents
“When we were children my father went to work at four in the morning, collecting milk from farmers around County Meath and bringing it to the dairy in Dublin and then coming home to do his own farm work. My mother and he later had a garage and a shop.”
“We worked hard on the farm as children and we worked hard in the shop with my mother. My mother had the shop open from seven in the morning until ten at night. At ten or eleven years of age we were driving tractors and doing all the farmwork with my father, feeding calves and all that. There is nothing wrong with working hard even as you are growing up and I think it is an important point for today’s generation to remember – that children should be participating in their parents lives and working. We certainly benefited from the work ethic that was at home”.
“My Mother was interested in the women’s movement at that time and was very much involved in the Irish Countrywomen’s Association. She died young, in her sixties, and at the time she died she was the president of the County Meath ICA.”
3. Being a parent herself
“I work very long hours during the week like most of us do. I work from early morning until midnight five nights a week, but I try on a Saturday to be available for my child’s football match or if he wants to go somewhere. We call that ‘our time’ together so you can spot us in a restaurant on a Saturday at lunchtime. That ‘quality time’ is really important for me and also for my son”.
“I think that backup is very important because if women don’t have solid support at home from a childminding point of view, they can’t be relaxed, no matter what their career”.
4. Her work as a Minister
“For me it is a pleasure working with a Senior Minister who is a woman. I think Mary Coughlan is a wonderful Minister and I am delighted to be working in the same department. She is a great worker herself. That was a great experience for me in the last year and a half and I am delighted to have been reappointed to the Department of Agriculture and Food”.
“Before that I had five years’ experience in the department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and while it was different from the Department of Agriculture and Food, I had an opportunity to work with lots of women’s groups. I was able to work on the whole domestic violence issue and we achieved a good deal on the equality side of the department. I have had great opportunities and I think it is lovely to be able to help, whether it is on the Justice side, or now with rural development”.
5. On being elected
“I know there are people voting for me today who have voted for me for twenty years because of something that I did in the community or something my father did. I think that deep-rootedness is great. Someone said to me this morning that I am very much attached to the local community and interested in community needs”.