Into the west he came, perhaps expecting quips about the title of one of his many cinematic accomplishments. Actor Gabriel Byrne can now add a "doctor" to his real name, following his conferring with an honorary degree at NUI Galway yesterday.
The actor fully intends to, noting that fellow thespian Ben Kingsley had done the same. Acknowledging on a more serious note that it was a "sentimental honour", Byrne said that his late mother, who had lived in Oranmore, Co Galway, would have been "very happy" with the university's recognition.
Commenting on recent developments in Galway, he said that he had "always had a problem with the planners and the lack of sympathy shown for the environment".
"I don't know what they were doing in Eyre Square for two to three years - I don't think it looks any more aesthetically pleasing," he said of the square's controversial multi-million euro refurbishment. He added that he was "beyond disappointed with what they've done to the Great Southern Hotel", now the Meyrick Hotel.
An artist "whose imagination and performances have offered us irreplaceable ideas and images" was how Rod Stoneman of NUI Galway's Huston School of Film and Digital Media, described Byrne.
