POPE BENEDICT XVI has conferred the honour of dame commander of the order of St Gregory the Great on Dr Margaret Downes, chairwoman of St Mary’s parish pastoral council, Haddington Road, Dublin, in recognition of her work for St Mary’s and the Dublin diocese during the last 40 years.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, made the conferral at St Mary’s Church on Haddington Road yesterday.
Dr Downes, who was born in Ballina, is a chartered accountant.
She was a director and deputy governor of the Bank of Ireland, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and of the European Federation of Accounting Bodies and chairwoman of Kilkenny Design and Bupa Ireland.
Dr Downes is the fourth Irish woman to have been honoured by the pope since the order was created in 1831.