HURLING LEGEND Brian Cody and former ceann comhairle Séamus Pattison are to be honoured with the freedom of their home city.
Members of Kilkenny Borough Council voted unanimously in a secret ballot to honour the two men at a special ceremony which will be held in Kilkenny city next month.
Cody (54) took Kilkenny to their sixth All-Ireland hurling title this year since taking over as manager of the county team in 1999.
The primary school teacher has five All-Ireland titles of his own as a player between 1975 and 1986.
Former Labour Party TD Mr Pattison will also be honoured as a freeman of the city following a controversial vote not to confer the honour on him last year.
He was first elected as a TD for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in 1961.
During 46 years in public life, he served as minister of state in the then department of social welfare (1983-1987) and as an MEP for Leinster in the 1980s.
He was unanimously elected ceann comhairle of the 28th Dáil in June 1997 and subsequently leas-cheann comhairle of the 29th Dáil in June 2002.
He retired from the Dáil at the election in 2007.