Mairead McGuinness
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Monday, 2 September 11.30am
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR FRANK MONAHAN, Dean of Agriculture on 2 September 2024, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on MAIREAD McGUINNESS.
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President, Graduates, Colleagues, Honoured Guests,
To-day we honour European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability, and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness.
A graduate of the UCD’s Faculty of Agriculture, Mairead has had an illustrious career as a broadcaster, journalist and as a politician at the highest level in Europe.
Her career in Europe started in June 2004 when she was elected a member of the European Parliament for the constituency of Ireland East.A newcomer to politics, she topped the poll and was elected on the first count. Mairead was subsequently re-elected in 2009, 2014 and 2019 when she again headed the poll and was elected on the first count.
Among her many roles in the Parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.In 2014, she was elected a Vice-President of the European Parliament and in 2017, was elected First Vice-President of the Parliament.She was re-elected as First Vice-President in July 2019 with over 90% of the Parliament’s membership voting for her, evidence of the high esteem in which she was held by her peers of all political persuasions.
In 2020, she was appointed to her current position as EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Her appointment was endorsed by all the major political groupings in the European Parliament – again a tribute to her recognition as a formidable European politician. As Commissioner she oversees the EU’s financial sector, has led the EU’s strategy on sustainable finance, and has worked on enhancing the Capital Markets Union to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Before entering European politics, Mairead’s was a household name as a journalist, broadcaster and commentator.After graduating in 1980, she joined RTE radio as a producer/presenter of agricultural programmes.Among her roles was presenting the high profile daily farm news programme Farm Diary.She later moved to television and presented Landmark as well as working on a range of consumer affairs programmes. She also worked with Gay Byrne on the Late Late Show.
Her talents as a journalist were recognised by the Irish Farmers Journal which she joined as a news reporter.She was later appointed the Journal’s Agribusiness Editor and also edited the paper’s Country Living supplement.A move to the Irish Independent followed and she was appointed the Editor of the paper’s weekly supplement The Farming Independent, a position she held until her election to the European Parliament in 2004.
It was her role as presenter/editor of the RTE television programme Ear To The Ground that gave her national recognition.She presented the programme for ten years from its inception in the Autumn of 1993.
Mairead was the first female graduate of UCD’s BAgrSc in Agricultural Economics in 1980.She has always expressed her pride in being a UCD alumna, endorsing the quality of the education she received, particularly the mentorship she received under the late Professor Seamus Sheehy, Professor of Agricultural Economics at UCD. She received an Alumni Award from UCD in 2014 in recognition of her achievements at that point.But of course, there was much more to come.
In researching Commissioner McGuinness’s profile, I came across a response she had given to questions relating to her upcoming appointment as Commissioner - her qualifications, commitment and motivations.A couple of lines struck me and reflected what we know about Mairead.In it she says:“I am strongly motivated ….. to do the best possible job because I have a strong sense of duty. I am acutely aware of my responsibility to my constituents and their concerns – listening and supporting, and bringing their perspectives into European policymaking. I believe in keeping close to citizens and I regularly engage with businesses, schools, workers, farmers – working to make the EU real for them and always making the connections between my work and their livelihoods”.
And that is certainly true.From our perspective at the School of Agriculture & Food Science, Mairead has made time to talk to (and indeed be interviewed by!) our students, to promote agricultural education, and to participate in events, including our annual Agricultural Knowledge Transfer Conference in collaboration with Teagasc.
But this commitment is also true of the Agri-Food sector in Ireland generally.Mairead makes time to listen, discuss and support, at various times and on many platforms, at a time that presents many challenges and opportunities for agriculture in Ireland.In everything she has done, Mairead’s credibility and authenticity come to the fore.She was reared on the family farm in Ardee, Co Louth.Her enterprising parents were involved in poultry and dairying.That background inculcated in her a strong work ethic and a unique empathy with community.
She is married to Tom Duff, who runs a tillage and sheep farm at Mentrim, Co. Meath.They have four children – twins Orlaith and James, Áine and Cathal.
To conclude, throughout her distinguished career, Mairead McGuinness has made a highly significant contribution to the Agri-Food sector and the economy in Ireland and Europe. In recognition of this, it is my honour to present Mairead McGuinness to the President of UCD, Professor Orla Feely, for the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hanc meam filiam, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.