“Now more than ever, the compassion, empathy and generosity of spirit, so characteristic of our people in our best moments, are displayed by our awardees here today” President Michael D Higgins

The first integrated school, Lagan College in Belfast, opened in 1981, but the growth of the sector has stalled in recent years.

Co Kerry priest translated and edited the first modern Irish Catholic Bible – a year before the English version was completed in the early 1970s.

Mgr Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (88) will next week receive the American Irish Historical Society’s Cultural Award.

Film based on the epic story 'Silence' by Shusako Endo about the Jesuit missionaries who went to Japan in the 17th century.