Analysis: Those deemed to have rendered distinguished service to the nation are a mix of philanthropists, peacemakers and a soccer manager
In 1989, Christy Moore wrote and released his classic Joxer Goes to Stuttgart about the adventures of an Inchicorian at the previous summer's European Championship in West Germany. Toward the end of the song, he sings "Jack Charlton has been proclaimed an honorary Irishman."
In a poignant example of reality imitating art, the player who won the world cup with England in 1966 was, with his wife Pat, awarded honorary Irish citizenship in December 1996. Some at the time considered him an outside candidate to replace Mary Robinson as president the following year, but Charlton simply said that it made him "happy as a pig in muck."
Becoming an honorary Irish citizen isn’t something you can apply for. Under Section 12 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, "the President may grant Irish citizenship as a token of honour to a person or to the child or grandchild of a person who, in the opinion of the Government, has done signal honour or rendered distinguished service to the nation."
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From RTÉ Radio 1's News At One in July 2020, a special farewell to Jack Charlton featuring some of his best bits with the boys in green on the day he was laid to rest
To be bestowed with honorary citizenship, you must touch Irish hearts and shape history with a certain grace. Charlton’s services to Irish soccer certainly fit this description and more. His reign as manager has been attributed to reconceiving Irish identity at the time of the peace process and kick-starting the Celtic Tiger.
This rare award - there have been only 11 recipients to date - comes with all the normal rights of citizenship. Given that it does not confer any extra status, some could regard it as honorary in name only. The award, however, is more than a legal status. It is an explicit "token of honour", as the law says.
Despite state funded awards for specific groups like artists (Aosdána), those who have displayed bravery (National Bravery Awards), and young people (Gaisce), Ireland does not have a national honours system, and this approach serves as a proxy. Despite numerous efforts to establish an honours a system, articles 40.2.1 and 40.2.2 of Bunreacht na hEireann prohibit titles of nobility being conferred by the state and citizens of Ireland cannot accept such honours from other states without prior approval of the Government.
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From RTÉ Archives, Don McManus reports for RTÉ News in 1968 about the formal handover of the Chester Beatty library to the State
Though the other honorary Irish citizens have no connection to soccer, they make up an interesting starting 11. This exclusive list can be split into three categories. In addition to Charlton, there are the philanthropists and the peacemakers.
The first person to receive the honour was Alfred Chester Beatty in 1957. An American mining engineer and naturalised British citizen knighted for his services to the wartime effort, Beatty built an important collection of manuscripts, rare books and other treasures. Disillusioned with post-war Britain (in particular higher taxes and foreign currency restrictions), he moved to Ireland at the age of 75 and subsequently bequeathed his collection to Ireland. The library bearing his name, located in Dublin Castle since 2000, is internationally renowned.
Equally disillusioned with post war Britain was the former British Conservative Party MP and art collector Alfred Beit. Inheriting a vast wealth and art collection from his uncle, a South African mining millionaire, Beit bought Russborough House in Blessington. The art collection was stolen many times, famously by the IRA gang including Rose Dugdale in 1974 and by Martin "The General" Cahill in 1986. Eventually the core of the recovered collection, including masterpieces by Vermeer, Rubens, and Gainsborough was moved to the National Gallery in Dublin. Despite Russborough being 'Ireland’s most borrowed gallery,’ Beit and his wife Clementine remained committed to Ireland and were awarded honorary citizenship in 1993.
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From RTÉ Archives, Tommie Gorman reports for RTÉ News in 1987 on artist Derek Hill donating Glebe House Church Hill and all its art treasures to the Irish State
The most recent recipient was the painter Derek Hill in 1999. Originally from England, Hill made Donegal his home in the 1950s and was instrumental in developing the Tory Island School of Painting. Hill’s subjects included notable composers, musicians, politicians and statesmen. In 1981 he bequeathed Glebe House, Gallery and Gardens, including an art collection with works by Picasso, Braque, le Brocquy and Renoir, to the state. Though his portrait of President Erskine Childers on a horse drawn cart with Tory islanders was deemed unsuitable for Áras an Uachtaráin, this didn’t stop President Mary McAleese granting him honorary citizenship.
The second awarding of honorary citizenship was in extremely different circumstances. In 1975, Dr. Tiede Herrema and his wife Elisabeth were given honorary citizenship by President Cearbhail Ó Dálaigh. The only awardees not from the UK or the US, the Dutch couple had moved to Limerick in 1973 when Dr. Herrema was appointed managing director of Ferenka.
In October 1975, he was kidnapped by the IRA while on his way to work. Eventually located at a house in St. Evin’s Park in Monasterevin, he was finally released after a two-week siege and a total of 36 days in captivity. The kidnappers demanded the release of three IRA prisoners, including the aforementioned Rose Dugdale. The Herremas were granted citizenship not only for the awful wrong done to them but their forgiveness for the kidnappers.
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From RTÉ Archives, Michael Ryan reports for Seven Days on the kidnapping of Tiede Herrema in 1975
The other peacemakers to be recognised come from American politics. On St Patrick’s Day 1986, the long serving Democratic Party ‘speaker of the house,’ "Tip" O'Neill and his wife Mildred were recognised for his contribution to peace in Ireland, specifically his role as a "key protagonist" in fostering the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Given his Irish ancestry, the Massachusetts politician was understandably proud of the honour and wrote in his memoir that "I knew I was Irish even before I knew I was an American."
The only woman to receive the honour on her own, Jean Kennedy Smith also hailed from Massachusetts Irish American Democratic politics and called Ireland her "second home". As ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998, she played a pivotal role in the peace process, specifically supporting the granting of a US visa to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in 1994.
Maybe if Heimir Hallgrímsson leads the "boys in green" to World Cup success next summer, the next president may be called into action
This award was a neat answer to the only known failed attempt to grant someone honorary Irish citizenship. In 1963, Taoiseach Seán Lemass planned to grant honorary citizenship to American president John F Kennedy during his state visit, but this was not possible due to restrictions in American law. The same restrictions would have applied to US president Bill Clinton and the award to Jean Kennedy Smith recognised president Kennedy’s sister and president Clinton’s ambassador simultaneously.
With her death in 2020 no recipients remain alive and President Higgins is the first president in 50 years to not bestow the honour, yet it remains on the statute books. Maybe if Heimir Hallgrímsson leads the "boys in green" to World Cup success next summer, the next president may be called into action!
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
