Awards |
| Lord Mayor's Award |
Held annually since 1989, the Lord Mayor’s Awards honour individuals and groups who have made a special contribution to Dublin and its citizens either at a local or city wide level. The Awards are Dublin city's way of acknowledging and congratulating the extraordinary work they do.
Previous recipients have included Scouting Ireland, Merchant’s Quay Ireland, Brian O’Driscoll and Adi Roche. |
Click here for a list of previous recipients of the Lord Mayor's Awards
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| Freedom of the City |
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The Freedom of the City is awarded to acknowledge the contribution of certain Dubliners to the city or to honour important visitors to the City of Dublin. The Honorary Freedom was created under the Munipal Privilages Act 1876 is now governed by the Local Government Act 2001.
To date only 76 people have been awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin. There are no financial or other benefits attached to the Freedom of the City. However it does carry significant prestige, as well as some interesting symbolic privileges and duties.
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Some recipients have not been available to receive their awards at the date they were conferred. Nelson Mandela was a prisoner in South Africa in 1988 when he was made a Freeman of the city and subsequently received his award in 1990. Another recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in Burma/Myanmar as a result of her political opinions. So far, she has not yet been able to accept her award. |
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| Holders of the Freedom of Dublin have a number of ancient privileges and duties not applicable to ordinary citizens, some of which have little more than symbolic meaning in the modern world. These include: |
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 | The right to bring goods into Dublin through the city gates, without paying customs duties. |
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| The right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries. This includes modern-day College Green (formerly Hoggen Green) and St.Stephen’s Green. (This right was exercised by Freeman ‘Bono’ of U2 in 2000!) |
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| The right to vote in municipal and parliamentary elections. |
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Duties of a Freeman/Freewoman include:
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| A Freeman/Freewoman can be called on to join a city militia at short notice. |
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| Each Freeman/Freewoman has to be ready to defend the city from attack. |
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| According to a law passed in 1454, any merchant who becomes a Freeman/Freewoman must possess the following items: |
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| A coat of mail |
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| A bow |
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| A light helmet |
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| A sword of his/her own |
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| Freemen from all the other trade guilds must have a bow, arrows and a sword. |
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| A law passed in 1465, states that each Freeman/Freewoman has to provide himself/herself with a longbow (of his own length) made of yew, witch-hazel or ash. He/she must also have twelve arrows made of the same wood. |
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