NUI Maynooth is planning to name its new £14 million auditoria and teaching building after the Nobel prize-winner and former SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, who is a graduate of the college.
The president of NUI Maynooth, Dr Seamus Smyth, said the college's governing body wanted to salute its most distinguished lay graduate. Mr Hume received a BA in French and history in 1957 and an MA in history in 1965.
"John Hume is a man in whom this University and this country can take pride," Dr Smyth said at a graduation ceremony yesterday.
"The John Hume Building on campus will stand as a symbol of what one graduate of the humanities has achieved; it will stand also as a beacon of inspiration", he said.