Mrs Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former president of Ireland, was among those presented with an honorary degree from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) at the weekend.
Honorary doctorates of philosophy were also conferred on Mr Patrick Donegan, the trade unionist and former head of City of Dublin VEC, and Mr John Donnelly, one of the founders of accountancy firm Deloitte & Touch.
At the ceremony, held on Saturday in Dublin Castle, the DIT president, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, also announced plans to expand an existing access programme to provide educational opportunities for refugees arriving in the State.
The DIT's access programme currently caters for young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Dublin's inner city.
The institute is working on plans to broaden the scope of the programme "to ensure that refugees can avail of the education available at DIT", Dr Goldsmith said.
It was the second annual conferring of honorary degrees by the DIT. Last year's recipients were the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Irish Olympic medal winner, Ms Sonia O'Sullivan.