NUI Galway's Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh has received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland for his contribution to Irish history, the Irish language and Irish public life.
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, who is the professor emeritus in history, was conferred with a D Litt by the chancellor of the University, Dr Maurice Manning, at an honorary conferring ceremony at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Prof Mary Daly of the Royal Irish Academy, introducing Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, referred to him as a distinguished historian of modern Ireland.
She said he had had a major role in expanding the range of Irish history, most especially in social, cultural and local history, and by bringing Irish language, literature and culture into the main field of historical inquiry.
Professor Ó Tuathaigh has been a member of the Senate of NUI; the Fulbright Commission; chair of Údarás na Gaeltachta and Bord na Gaeilge, a member of the Expert Advisory Group on Commemoration, and most recently as a member of President Higgins’ Council of State. Professor Daly said that Professor Ó Tuathaigh had made his mark as a historian with the publication in 1972 of Ireland before the famine.
Others to also receive honorary degrees were artist Brian Bourke for his contribution through painting to Irish culture, DFA; Dr Rhona Mahony for her contribution to public health and specifically to healthcare for women and infants as Master of the National Maternity Hospital, D Med; Margaret Mullett for her contribution to public service/public health in raising awareness of haemochromatosis, LLD; and Professor Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly for her contribution to the study of German literature and culture, D Litt.
