An honorary degree will be conferred on the former president of the European Parliament next month at the University of Limerick.
Pat Cox, a Limerick native, was elected president of the European Parliament in January 2002. He had previously served Munster as an independent MEP for 13 years.
A vocal supporter of European expansion and unity, he cited the smooth expansion of the European Union by 10 new states last year as one of his major achievements during his 2½-year term as president of the European Parliament.
Mr Cox, who was born in 1952, was raised in Limerick.
He graduated with a degree in economics at Trinity College Dublin and later lectured in the subject at the University of Limerick.
He switched to journalism and worked for RTÉ from 1982 to 1986 where he hosted the current affairs programme Today Tonight.
Mr Cox began his political career in 1985 when he joined the Progressive Democrats. But he gradually he distanced himself from Irish politics and joined the European Liberal Democrats in 1989.
Three other people who have strong Limerick connections will also be awarded honorary degrees at the conferring ceremony at the University of Limerick on April 14th.
Two of them are members of the board of the University of Limerick Foundation.
They are Gordon Holmes, senior partner with solicitors firm Holmes, O'Malley, Sexton, and John Ryan, chief executive of the United States-based computer firm Macrovision Corporation.
Mr Ryan, who is from Co Tipperary, is a former winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award in Silicon Valley in California.
The late art historian and founding director of the Hunt Museum in Limerick, John Hunt, will be awarded a posthumous honorary degree at next month's conferring ceremony.
Mr Hunt, who was previously awarded the freedom of Limerick city, died last August at the age of 47. His wife, Patricia, will accept the award on behalf of her husband.