Background and Family Life
Born Mary Patricia Leneghan (Irish: Máire Pádraigín Ní Lionnacháin) in Ardoyne, north Belfast, McAleese was the eldest of nine children. She is a Roman Catholic. Her family was forced to leave the area by loyalists when The Troubles broke out. Educated at St Dominic's High School, she also spent some time when younger with the Poor Clares, Queen's University Belfast (from which she graduated in 1973), and Trinity College, Dublin. She was called to the Northern Irish Bar in 1974, and remains a member of the Irish Bar. She opposes abortion and divorce.
In 1976, she married Martin McAleese, an accountant and dentist by profession. He has assisted his wife with some of her initiatives as president. They have three children: Emma, born 1982, graduated as an engineer from University College Dublin and is a dentistry student at Trinity College, Dublin; twins: Justin, an accountant with a master's degree from University College Dublin, and SaraMai, who obtained a master's degree in biochemistry at the University of Oxford were born in 1985.
Read more about this topic: Mary McAleese
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