Mary Robinson
Robinson was a popular president, before he died in 2002 Brian Lenihan said that she was a better president than he ever could have been. She often visited Britain, and became the first Irish president to visit Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. She welcomed visits by senior British royals, most notably the Prince of Wales to Áras an Uachtaráin. On one trip to Belfast she met with the local MP, Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Féin. Foreign Minister Dick Spring, who was leader of the Labour Party, privately advised her not to meet Adams. However the Government did not formally advise her not to meet with him, so she felt it would be wrong,not to meet the local member of parliament during her visit, and was photographed publicly shaking his hand. During her various visits to Northern Ireland, she in fact regularly met politicians of all parties, including David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party and John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party.