The former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has said there should be a presidential election in the autumn.
In her first reference to the outcome of the citizenship referendum, Mrs Robinson also said that Ireland required a "dramatic change" from the "current status quo" if it was to bring about a strong, progressive and multicultural society.
Speaking to The Irish Times before chairing an international criminal justice conference in Galway, Mrs Robinson said a presidential election when the President, Mrs McAleese's term of office ends, was a "good idea".
The former President, who served from 1990 to 1997, said that she had no view on individual candidates, although she was aware that both the Labour Party president, Mr Michael D. Higgins, and former UN Assistant Secretary-General, Mr Denis Halliday, had been mentioned. "The office of President has become increasingly relevant to the Irish people, and a democratic office takes a lot of moral strength from having an election,"she said. In this sense, a vote represented a very "positive step", she added.
Mrs Robinson is currently involved in the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, which tackles human rights issues.
She is also a member of the steering committee of the global coalition on women and AIDS, which works closely with UN agencies, and attended this week's International AIDS conference in Bangkok before flying to Galway for the conference on accountability and atrocity, hosted by NUI Galway's Irish Centre for Human Rights. Mrs Robinson said that she took a decision as a former President not to become involved in issues related to the Constitution, given that she had been guardian of the Constitution in her former role.
However, in relation to the recent citizenship referendum, she believed Ireland needed to be "very thoughtful" and "change dramatically from the current status quo" to bring about a multi-cultural, strong, progressive society which was required to fuel future economic growth.
As a member of the Global Committee on International Migration, Mrs Robinson said she was involved in looking at issues relating to migration, racism and xenophobia. European states needed a "new perspective" on migration which needed to be managed in a more humane and "human rights centred" way, and which highlighted the enrichment value to society. "We have a demographic problem here in Ireland with an ageing population and we all need, value and benefit from that inward migration," she said.
She appealed to the Government and "wider society", including the business community, to highlight the benefits of diversity.
"In a sense we have to invent our own positive narrative, our story of migration," similar to the story of emigration which had also been documented, she said.
