Trinity awards honorary degrees to four exceptional individuals

Posted on: 14 June 2024

The first European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Anna May McHugh, the driving force behind the National Ploughing Championships, were among four exceptional individuals conferred today with honorary degrees of the University of Dublin at Trinity College Dublin [14 June 2024].  

Indefatigable human rights campaigner Colm O’Gorman and leading businessman Dr Leonard O’Hagan also received Trinity’s highest honour from Chancellor Dr Mary McAleese at a ceremony conducted in Latin in the historic Public Theatre.  

Anna May McHugh (Doctor in Laws) 

Anna May McHugh has been Managing Director of the National Ploughing Championships since 1973. Since that time, the National Ploughing Championships has become Europe’s largest outdoor agricultural trade exhibition. She has been acclaimed as the driving force behind the event’s spectacular growth. She is also the Irish Board Member of the World Ploughing Organisation since her appointment in 1997 as the first woman on the Board. She has led the co-ordination of hosting the World Ploughing Contest on the five occasions it has been held in Ireland. 

She has worked for the National Ploughing Association for almost 70 years, first as a secretary to the founder, then company secretary and finally as managing director. In the 1970s there were 100 exhibitors at the ploughing and 21 counties competing – today the event hosts 300,000 visitors over three days, 1,700 exhibitors on 100 acres and 350 ploughing competitors. Anna May has driven its extension to include a tented trade village, a live cultural programme, fashion shows, a craft village, cooking demonstrations, sheep dog trials, equestrian events, an enterprise arena, and other activities. Now after just turning 90, she still runs the multi-million-euro operation from her home. 

As the driving force behind ‘the ploughing’ she was truly ahead of her time - a beacon for women in a man’s world. She recalls the early days as being difficult. “In the years that I speak about, women were not at the top of organisations as such [and] I remember the days when there were only men folk coming to the Ploughing, and I thought ‘we must do something about that’.” It is her involvement that has made the event more inclusive and family friendly. Anna May attributes her success to the team she has around her from ploughing associations right around the country. She has always believed in bringing people along with her and says she would never ask anyone to do something she would not do herself. In 2024, still running the show, 24 years after the national retirement age, she has now also become a beacon for older people as an Age Friendly Ambassador for her home county of Laois. 

The Public Orator Dr Anna Chahoud praised Anna May McHugh as “the worthy recipient of countless honours for her seventy years of services rendered to Irish agriculture and culture.” 

She added: “She has peacefully transformed Irish society by fostering its core values and helping recognise the invaluable work of women in a previously male-dominated world.” 

Colm O’Gorman (Doctor in Laws) 

Colm O’Gorman is one of the most important Irish figures working in human rights in the last fifty years. As the victim of child sexual abuse, he fearlessly confronted the prevailing stigma and shame surrounding sexual violence against male victims – for example through working with Sarah McDonald in co-creating the ground-breaking documentary ‘Suing the Pope’ and in playing a pivotal role in the BAFTA winning, eye opening exposé ‘A Family Affair’ which unmasked the systemic failures of state services in the UK. In addition, he was fundamental to the successful campaign for the setting up of the Ferns Inquiry into clerical sex abuse in the diocese of Ferns. Most notably he established the One in Four charity (first in London in 1999 and then in Ireland in 2002) for victims of child sexual abuse – a charity that has provided immeasurable support to victims in its mission to break the cycle of abuse. 

He has also been involved in multiple other campaigns related to social justice and social equality (and has had to deal with horrific online and in-person abuse from opponents as a result) most famously the Marriage referendum in 2015 when his personal narrative and that of his daughter were hugely influential. Most notably, he was the Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland between 2008-2022 and in that position became one of the figureheads of the entire Irish Human Rights movement. He is currently Global Director of Community Engagement at the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative and Board Member of the Open Community. In all his roles and because of all he has done, Colm O’Gorman is one of the key figures in the story of Irish social transformation since the 1990s. He has received multiple awards and honours for his work including the 2023 Trinity Historical Society Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to Public Discourse. 

The Public Orator described how Colm O’Gorman’s memorable campaigns for marriage equality and the constitutional reform of abortion law “helped Ireland rise to become a world leader in human rights”. 

She declared: “If you ask him, ‘Who are we as a nation?’, he will tell you of a country that breaks the silence, casts off shame and trauma, takes collective responsibility for its past and finally embraces the true ancient values on which its republican democracy rests: ‘equality and self-determination, mutual regard and respect, care and caregiving.’” 

Leonard O’Hagan (Doctor in Science) 

Leonard (Len) O’Hagan played a remarkable role in the public life of Northern Ireland both before, and particularly after the IRA ceasefire in 1994. In particular, he has been instrumental in fostering positive developments in relation to civic society, cross border trade and co-operation and in economic redevelopment in Northern Ireland. He was formerly a senior executive in the Smurfit Organisation and Fizwilton plc where he served as CEO, and was formerly Chair of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners, the Metropolitan Arts Centre Belfast, and was Chief Executive of the Royal College of Physicians. He was also formerly Chair of the Northern Ireland Water Service and a Director of the College of Anaesthesiologists. Dr O’Hagan was Chair of the All-Ireland Congenital Heart disease network. He was a joint north south ministerial appointment as Chair of this new entity, and since its formation a world class service has been developed resulting in over thousand babies from Northern Ireland undergoing live saving surgical intervention in Crumlin Hospital Dublin. Dr O’Hagan is a Director of Belgium company Mediahuis, owners of the Irish Independent and Belfast Telegraph and serves on the Board of Hillsborough Castle. 

His work in relation to cross-border initiatives aimed at fostering harmony and promoting the economy and tourism is truly remarkable. Thus, for example, he successfully chaired the development of an All-Ireland pediatric system, the world’s first cross jurisdiction clinical network. He also is a member of the Ireland Funds promoting and supporting peace, culture, education, and community development across the island. 

For his many achievements, Dr O’Hagan was awarded a CBE in 2012, and Honorary Degrees from Queen’s University Belfast (2013) and Ulster University (2011). Dr O’Hagan is currently a Pro-Chancellor of Queen’s University of Belfast. 

The Public Orator praised Dr O’Hagan as “a man of unbounded generosity and reliability”, noting that the variety of fields to which Dr O’Hagan has generously lent his time and expertise “is just a little less astounding if we remember that, as Aristotle would have it, the pursuit of Good is the aim of all practical sciences—ethics, economics, politics, medicine.” 

“No-one has fulfilled this mission more completely than our candidate, whose brilliant merits deserve our warmest admiration and assent to his proclamation as Doctor in Science.” 

Herman Van Rompuy (Doctor in Laws) 

Herman Van Rompuy is a Belgian and European statesman. He was Prime Minister of Belgium from 2008-2009 but then, yet more significantly, he was the first permanent president of the European Council from 2009-2014. In both contexts his work involved dealing expertly with hugely complex matters. In his role as Prime Minister, he is primarily remembered for the way he contributed to navigate Belgium’s response to the global economic recession – which led to him being described as ‘the painstaking builder of ‘impossible compromises.’ Similarly, the then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised Mr Van Rompuy’s success in bringing political and economic stability to Belgium after months of uncertainty. 

He was extraordinarily effective as president of the European Council. His presidency was notable for his opposition to far-right forces, his commitment to the European project and his support for multiple global initiatives (including measures to tackle climate change). More specifically, he was critical to the way the European Council tackled difficult issues arising out of the global recession, including sovereign debt crises (particularly that of Greece). Since his retirement from the European Council, he has been appointed as – among others - Chair of the College of Europe, Honorary President of the European Policy Centre, and, since 2022, Honorary Professor of the National University of Kyiv. His extraordinary work has been reflected in the numerous international honours he has received and the multiple honorary doctorates with which he has been conferred. 

The Public Orator  said of Herman Van Rompuy that, while he holds a B.A. in Philosophy and a Master’s in Applied Economics from the Catholic University of Leuven, “his command of history is formidable”.  

“He comes to us today as Chair of the College of Europe, the oldest postgraduate institute of European Studies, and Honorary President of the European Policy Centre devoted to European integration. The message he articulates loud and clear to today’s leaders is one of political will, determination, and a vision of ‘togetherness.’” 

ENDS 

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