The Belfast-based Redemptorist priest Fr Alex Reid is to be named Tipperary Person of the year.
Fr Reid, who is from Tipperary, will receive the award from the Tipperary Association.
Fr Reid has been heavily involved in the Northern peace process since the 1970s and was one of the two clerics who acted as witnesses to IRA decommissioning last year.
The association said it was giving the award to Fr Reid in recognition of the "pivotal" role he played in the peace process through his involvement in the Hume/Adams talks of the early 1990s.
Announcing the award last night, the chairman of the Tipperary Association, Michael Fenton, said that "many people on the inside of the discussions credit Fr Reid as being the person who started the process".
"What is not in doubt is that Fr Reid was the person responsible for getting the Hume/Adams dialogue started but he has been involved in working for peace in Northern Ireland since the early 70s".
Since the 1960s Fr Reid has been based in the Redemptorists' monastery in Clonard, in west Belfast, and has developed close links with represenatives from both the loyalist and nationalist communities.
He went to primary school in Nenagh and then attended the local Christian Brothers School.
Following his involvement with the decommissioning process last year he sparked controversy for comments he made at a public meeting in Belfast when he likened unionists to "Nazis".
He later apologised for the comments and said they were uttered in a flash of anger regarding previous statements from a person at the meeting,
Meanwhile the association's "Hall of Fame" award is to be given to former GAA president Séamus Ó Riain from Moneygal.
Both men will receive their awards in Dublin next month