THE Irish television and radio journalist, Fergal Keane and the broadcaster, Terry Wogan, are awarded OBEs in the New Year honours list published today.
The list of those receiving the Order of the British Empire also includes the "honorary Irishman", Damon Hill, now living in Killiney, Co Dublin, who receives an OBE for his services to motor racing.
Terry Wogan, a native of Limerick, will receive an honorary OBEY because of his Irish nationality. His medal will not be presented to him by Queen Elizabeth; he will have to make do with a British government minister.
However, Mr Keane, son of the actor, Eamon Keane, and nephew of the writer, John B. Keane, will meet Queen Elizabeth. He was born in London and grew up in Cork.
An award winning journalist and author, Mr Keane (35), is the BBC's Foreign Correspondent, Hong Kong and received the honour for his services to television journalism. A former Irish Press reporter, he joined the BBC in 1989 as Northern Ireland Correspondent.
Earlier this year, Mr Keane wrote a moving letter to his first child, Daniel, in which he described his own difficult relationship with his alcoholic father and his hopes for their future together. Such was the public response when it was broadcast on Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent, that Mr Keane has since published it in a book, Letter to Daniel.
Clearly delighted, Terry Wogan said there was "nowhere on earth" where he or his family would be happier living than in England.
The former Beatle, Paul McCartney, is knighted, and the composer, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, enters the House of Lords after receiving a baronetcy.
The Rev Roy Magee, who helped negotiate the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire in October 1994, receives the MBE.