Honour for McDonald

The Irish Times's environment editor, Frank McDonald, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) for his work on environmental issues.

The honorary degree was conferred on McDonald, along with chartered surveyor and founder of Self-Help Development International Dr Noel McDonagh and Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director general Liam Kelleher, at a ceremony in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on Saturday.

DIT president Prof Brian Norton said McDonald had been selected for the award because he had not only highlithe honorary degreeghted but changed the way people responded to environmental issues. "He has broadened the debate and engendered great respect and admiration in the process," he said.

Presenting the degree, Tom Dunne, head of the school of real estate and construction economics, said McDonald had a "uniquely critical eye" and a passion for identifying issues that required change. He had also made architecture, urban planning and environmental management the "stuff of popular debate", Mr Dunne said.

Presenting the degree to Dr McDonagh, Prof John Ratcliffe, dean and director of the faculty of the built environment, said he was a "champion and mentor of education and scholarship".

As the co-founder and chairman of Self Help Development International, an organisation working for rural development in the Third World, Dr McDonagh was "a man of service" who had dedicated more than 20 years to the well-being of others, he said.

The head of the school of economics, Philip Murray, said that as director general of CIF since 1993, Mr Kelleher had presided over "the most significant period of construction in Ireland since the founding of the State". His work with CIF was synonymous with growth and modernisation and he was a "standard bearer" for graduates of the DIT, Mr Murray said.