Mary Clark-Glass

Who is Mary Clark-Glass?

Mary Clark-Glass is an academic, medical administrator and former politician in Northern Ireland.

Clark-Glass became a lecturer in law at the Queens University of Belfast in 1974, and became a known as a commentator on legal and human rights issues and as a prominent feminist. In 1984, she became head of the Northern Ireland Equal Opportunities Commission, and also served as a Human Rights Commissioner on the Northern Ireland Commission for Racial Equality and as Chair of Victim Support. In 1990, she was awarded a CBE.

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland stood Clark-Glass as their candidate for the Northern Ireland constituency in the European Parliament election in 1994, hoping that she would emulate the success of Mary Robinson in the Irish presidential election in 1990. She took fourth place in the election, making her the best placed candidate not to win a seat, but took only 4.1% of the first preference votes. Following the election, Clark-Glass acted as part of the Alliance's team for the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement.