The conferring of an honorary doctorate on former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and peace campaigner Professor Monica McWilliams at Dublin City University has been interrupted by a group of student protesters.
The group, who began speaking as Mr Ahern took to the podium after receiving his award, said they could not let the event go ahead unchallenged.
They said Mr Ahern was the architect of the financial crisis that affected the lives of so many young people.
The conferring of an honorary doctorate on the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern today was interrupted by protesters who said they could not let the event go ahead unchallenged | Read more: https://t.co/ME9VN8y1BD pic.twitter.com/1ijVeiryis
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 2, 2023
The group, who were wearing face masks and referred to themselves at the Connolly Youth Movement, spoke for less than one minute before they were removed from the auditorium.
The former taoiseach stood in silence with his head bowed during the protest and when the group were removed the audience gave a standing ovation.
Mr Ahern then proceeded with his speech.
When later asked about the protest, he said he always likes to see students "doing their bit" and he was glad that they had "nothing better to do this morning".
"It was nice of them to come and say hello to me," he said.
Mr Ahern and Prof McWilliams were conferred with the honorary doctorate by DCU to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The President of DCU said the two Good Friday Agreement signatories were brave individuals from very different backgrounds who were united in their passion for peace.
Professor Dáire Keogh, President of Dublin City University, said: "Both are bridge-builders and share an innate ability to bring people together, to find common ground, to make connections. Both played pivotal roles in the creation of the Good Friday Agreement."
The conferring of an honorary doctorate on the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was interrupted by protesters saying they could not let the event go ahead unchallenged. They said he was the architect of the financial crisis which affected the lives of so many young people @rtenews pic.twitter.com/Z9QT6e00EH
— Samantha Libreri (@SamanthaLibreri) March 2, 2023
Opening the ceremony Chancellor of DCU, Brid Horan said both Prof McWilliams and Mr Ahern took significant risks and made great personal sacrifices to achieve peace.
"Monica McWilliams and Bertie Ahern had a vision of a different Ireland, free of conflict.
"Both took significant risks and made huge personal sacrifices to ensure that this island could become a more peaceful, prosperous place," Ms Horan said.
Prof McWilliams was a founding member of the Women's Coalition and is a graduate of Queen's University Belfast and the University of Michigan.
She later became Professor of Women's Studies and Social Policy at the University of Ulster and served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast South from 1998 to 2003, and was appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from 2005 to 2011.
Speaking at the conferring, she appealed to political leaders in the North to focus on the positives that the Windsor Framework could bring.
Good morning. We are at @TheHelixDublin for the honorary conferring of Prof Monica McWilliams @MonicaBelfast, campaigner for peace and a signatory of the Good Friday Agreement on behalf of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern #DCUHonorary pic.twitter.com/R8MgUrZpdi
— Dublin City University (@DCU) March 2, 2023
"This week, as we await the outcome of the agreement reached between the UK and EU on Brexit negotiations, my message to those in Belfast is to focus on the dividends for all.
"We need our young people to thrive with a decent livelihood instead of getting caught up as rich pickings for the macho men in the alphabet soup of paramilitary groups.
"Making politics work remains an unfinished business on the island of Ireland.
"It is strange to hear some people say 'I am all for progress but I don't like change.' Change is not down to a single person - it takes a collective effort.
"Creating change can be slow and precarious, but even the small and incremental changes you make do make a difference over time," she said.
Prof McWilliams also paid tribute to her fellow recipient, Mr Ahern.
"I'm not sure I could have carried on without Bertie Ahern, he is a rock and we should be proud to have a man like Bertie Ahern on this island," she said.
She concluded her speech by saying the future imagined by the signatories of the Good Friday Agreement was still in sight.
"We now stand on the cusp of a new era, even if there are still risks and forces that threaten the building of trust. But with imagination and determination the future that we built 25 years ago can be glimpsed."
Future of NI 'a positive one'
After receiving his honorary doctorate, Mr Ahern said he believed the future for Northern Ireland is a positive one but that people must need to preserver with peace.
"We have had 25 years of peace. Compare the 25 years since that historic Good Friday with the quarter century of bloodshed that preceded it.
"The difference is between light and dark. In the grind of daily politics, there is understandable frustration that what was hoped for has only been realised partially or occasionally.
"I understand that frustration and I share it. But I also have a sense of perspective that 25 years of peace is a golden era, compared to what was and to what could have been.
"More importantly, I am convinced that what is to come, what is still possible, is better yet," Mr Ahern said.
Mr Ahern also said that this was an important time for British-Irish relations.
"The work of this week is to bring the UK to the end of the beginning of the consequence of its fateful decision in 2016.
"If it proves to be – and I hope it is true – that the United Kingdom has finally reached the end of the beginning of its departure from the EU post Brexit, it will understandably want to capitalise by normalising its relations with Brussels.
"In that context, Ireland will be important to a UK rebuilding relations with the EU. Ireland can be a good neighbour and friend to the UK.
"That was the purpose of the east-west institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement. In a context now, that nobody envisaged then, their utility and importance would seem to be greater than ever," Mr Ahern said.
Mr Ahern said he was grateful to receive a doctorate from what he described as "the school around the corner" and that he would now add it to his primary certificate.
He also paid tribute to his fellow awardee Prof McWilliams.
"Her leadership of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was outstanding and change making. In the worst of times Monica McWilliams didn’t accept the status quo.
"She insisted that change would happen. She was a changemaker because she had courage. She had patience and she offered a different perspective.
"These are the essential qualities of peace making. That different perspective was essential to making, to agreeing and to then delivering on the Good Friday Agreement," Mr Ahern said.
The ceremony was by a number of public figures including former president Mary McAleese and her husband Martin.
DCU has previously conferred an honorary doctorate on peace process architects Seamus Mallon, David Trimble, John Hume and Senator George Mitchell, and to former US President Bill Clinton.
Mother Theresa and Seamus Heaney were also awarded honorary doctorates.
