The Irish financier, Mr Dermot Desmond, last night became the first person to receive the freedom of Macroom, Co Cork. It is the first such time an urban district council has conferred such an award since being given the power in the 1991 Local Government Act.
Macroom Urban District Council made Mr Desmond a freeman of the town in recognition of his national and international success in commerce as well as for his patronage of the arts nationally and internationally.
The council chairman, Mr Pat O'Connell, said the award was also in recognition of Mr Desmond's love of and commitment to his native town of Macroom and was a token of the high esteem and affection with which he was held by Macroom people.
Mr Desmond, whose father, Andrew, is from Masseytown in Macroom and whose mother, Sheila, is from nearby Ballyvourney, said: "It is a very proud moment for me and my family, whose history and traditions are centred in Macroom and its hinterland."
Mr Desmond was accompanied to the ceremony by his wife Pat, his parents, an uncle who lives in the town, his three children, a sister and an aunt.