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honorary conferring 2007

Friday, 29th June 2007

Nicholas Carolan

Nicholas Carolan has achieved a national feat in the last twenty years in the establishment of the Irish Traditional Music Archive.

Arts Minister John O'Donoghue recently opened a new premises for the Archive at Merrion Square in Dublin. It holds and preserves there the largest multi-media collection in existence of Irish traditional music materials: over 28,000 sound recordings, 18,000 books and serials, 10,000 images, and a mass of other materials. It also holds the largest body of information about the music, organised on unique computer catalogues: over half a million items content items in all. The Archive is a public, national and international institution on a cultural and scholarly level. Materials held there are available to visitors for reference, without qualification and free of charge.

In 1987 Nicholas Carolan and others outlined a preliminary plan for the establishment of the Archive which won the financial support of the Arts Council in Dublin and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in Belfast. He was a visionary who commenced work on the task, himself and one secretary. Today the Archive has a staff of ten, and Nicholas continues to build the institution for all those with an interest in the contemporary and historic artforms of Irish traditional song, instrumental music and dance. He is best known to the public for his long-running archival television series, Come West along the Road on RTÉ and Siar an Bóthar on TG4, and for his extensive public lectures. He has also published a profusion of books and scholarly articles on the subject of Irish traditional music.

This year 2007 will be the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Archive, an appropriate time to honour Nicholas Carolan's service to the nation.

Niall FitzGerald KBE

Niall FitzGerald became the Chairman of Reuters in October 2004, having spent over thirty years with Unilever in a variety of commercial and financial jobs in several countries. In the early 1980s he became CEO of Unilever’s foods business in South Africa and thereafter returned to London as Unilever Group Treasurer.

Niall FitzGerald joined the Boards of Unilever PLC and Unilever NV in 1987 and served respectively as Finance Director, Foods Director and Detergents Director until his appointment as Chairman and CEO in 1996. During his Unilever career, he worked and lived in Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa, the USA and the UK.

Niall FitzGerald joined the Board of Reuters as a non-executive director in 2003 and became Chairman in 2004. He is Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK) and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the British Museum in 2006. He also co-Chairs the Investment Climate Facility (ICF) for Africa. Niall FitzGerald is Chairman of the International Business Council, a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and also a Trustee of the Leverhulme Trust. He is a member of various advisory bodies, including the President of South Africa’s International Investment Advisory Council, the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Blackstone European Advisory Board, the Advisory Board of Tsinghua University and the Advisory Board of Spencer Stuart. He is a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley International.

He has been Chairman of the Conference Board (2003-2005) and Co-Chairman of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) (2004-2005). He has been non-executive director of Merck (2000-2003), Ericsson (2000-2002), Bank of Ireland (1990-1999) and the Prudential Corporation (1992-1999). He has also been President of the Advertising Association (2000-2005), a Member of the Kok Commission on the Lisbon Agenda, a Member of the Accounting Standards Review Committee, Chairman of the CBI Europe Committee, and Member of the International Policy Council for Agriculture and Trade.

Mr FitzGerald was awarded an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire in 2002, and holds a number of Honorary Doctorates from American, British and Irish universities.

Pius Langa

Chief Justice Langa is an inspirational jurist who is the first African Chief Justice of South Africa. He rose from humble beginnings as a worker in a shirt factory, to a court interpreter and messenger; subsequently a prosecutor and magistrate and a Judge of the Constitutional Court. During his legal career he served the cause of the larger marginalised population and appeared in numerous political trials. Throughout this period he sought justice for his people.

He has been awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees by the University of Zululand, the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town. In April and May 2006 he received further honorary doctorates from the University of South Africa and the Northeastern University in Boston, USA respectively. In 1998 he was appointed honorary professor in the Department of Procedural and criminal Law at the University of Natal and subsequently Chancellor of this University. He has served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, USA. Chief Justice Langa has also served on the boards of and as a trustee of various legal institutions and was centrally involved in founding the South African Legal Defence Fund to pay for legal assistance for those accused of crimes under apartheid laws. He chaired the Langa Commission investigation into Lesotho elections on behalf of the Southern African Development and Economic Community. In 2000 he was appointed Commonwealth Special Envoy to assist the Fiji Islands return to democracy. He has participated in Constitutional Review Commissions in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Chief Justice Langa has always been involved in attempts to improve the quality of life of his fellow South Africans. He continues to assist civic organisations, townships residents association and youth and recreational groups.

In an extremely competitive profession, his rise from humble beginnings in apartheid in South Africa to the Chief Justice of a free South Africa is truly remarkable and bears testimony to a courageous and indefatigable personality.

Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (Enya)

Born in Gaoth Dobhair and educated in Milford, County Donegal, Enya was born into a musical family. In 1980 she was asked to join the family group Clannad at the request of Nicky Ryan, Clannad’s Manager at that time. After leaving Clannad in 1982 she commenced her musical collaboration with the producer and lyricist team of Nicky and Roma Ryan. Enya has become Ireland’s best-selling solo artist in the history of the state and ranks alongside the most successful female artists in the world. She was the world's biggest selling female artist of 2001 and 2002. To date Enya has sold over seventy milllion albums worldwide.

Enya’s musical compositions have brought her many accolades. A four-time Grammy award winner, Enya and her production/writing team were nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for their work on The Lord of the Rings. Enya has won six World Music Awards and the coveted American Golden Plate Award.

Enya has released many albums including: Enya (1987), Watermark (1988), Shepherd Moons (1991), The Celts (1992), The Memory of Trees (1995), Paint the Sky with Stars (1997), A Day without Rain (2000), Amarantine (2005). Enya was commissioned to write songs for the following films: The Frog Prince, produced by Lord David Puttnam (1985), Far and Away, directed by Ron Howard (1992) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) directed by Peter Jackson. She has also contributed to many other film soundtracks such as Toys (1992) and Calmi Cuori Appassionati (2001).

Enya supports many charitable causes – Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Dublin and the New York City Uniformed Firefighters Association’s Widows and Children Fund are just two of the charities which have benefited from her generosity.

Dr Jane O’Leary

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Jane O’Leary has been resident in Ireland since 1972. A founding member of Aosdána, she is a graduate of Vassar College and holds a PhD in composition from Princeton University, where she studied with Milton Babbitt.

Jane has composed over 70 works, which have been widely performed and broadcast. Her music has been featured on two occasions at the ISCM World Music Days and at international festivals and venues throughout Europe and the USA including L'Imaginaire Irlandais in France, Island: Arts from Ireland at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., Tampere Biennale in Finland, Voices of Change in Dallas, Texas, All Ireland festival in The Netherlands, the Donne in Musica festival in Italy, International Thomas Mann Festival in Lithuania and the Great Performers series at the Lincoln Center, New York where the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland performed her orchestral work ’From Sea-Grey Shores’ on their debut American tour in 2003. A CD of her music will be released on the Capstone label this year.

In 1976 Jane established the contemporary music ensemble Concorde to promote and perform new music on a regular basis. For over 30 years the group has performed continuously in Ireland and has toured in a dozen countries worldwide. They have commissioned some 75 works from both Irish and international composers. As pianist with the group, Jane has performed and recorded with Concorde.

She lives in Galway where she is a founder and current chairperson of Music for Galway, founded in 1981. Music for Galway has promoted over 500 concerts in the city featuring distinguished artists from around the world.

Jane has served on the Board of the National Concert Hall, the Arts Council, and the Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Foreign Affairs. She was chair of the Contemporary Music Centre during a period of significant development for the centre. She has been Composer in Residence at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and currently teaches composition at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama.

Bill Walsh

Bill Walsh is the Founder and Chairman of Sequoia Associates, a private investment firm, which since its establishment in 1982 has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire and restore financial health to nearly two dozen ailing enterprises.

Before joining Sequoia, Walsh was Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Arcata Corporation for more than 15 years. He also oversaw forestry operations and helped build sales from $7 million to more than $1 billion, and after-tax profits from $900,000 to more than $32 million. Prior to his Arcata post, Walsh was a management consultant for six years with McKinsey and Company. From 1955 to 1958, he was Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and from 1956 to 1961 Counsel to the New York State Commission of Investigation.

Mr Walsh is Chairman of the Boards of Creativity Inc. of Van Nuys, California, and Ameriscape, Inc. of North Salem, New York. He also serves as lead Director on the Boards of a public company, URS Corporation of San Francisco, California.

In addition, Mr. Walsh serves as Co-Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board for Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Ireland Fund. He also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution. He chairs the Board of Trustees of the Neuroscience Research Foundation of San Diego, California. He was the Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to Bolivia through 2005.

Mr Walsh is a graduate of Fordham University and Harvard Law School. He is married and has six children. He has received Honorary Doctor of Laws Degrees from Fordham University (2005) and Trinity University (2006).

A quiet, steadfast philanthropist, Walsh is a long-time member of the American Ireland Fund and received its Distinguished Leadership Award in 1997. Walsh, his wife, and six children together endowed The William D. Walsh Family Library at Fordham University, and dedicated the Lumbard Classroom in Hauser Hall at Harvard Law School. In addition, Walsh established the Lumbard Fellowship to fund summer interns from Harvard Law School and Columbia and Fordham Law Schools to work in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Oifig an Uachtaráin
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