US OPEN golf champion Graeme McDowell and the head of the North’s civil service are among 50 Northern Ireland people honoured in the new year honours list issued today.
McDowell receives an MBE for services to golf following his successes at the US Open, the Welsh Open and at the Ryder Cup this season, among others.
From Portrush, Co Antrim, McDowell first came to notice at his local club, Rathmore, at the age of eight. He went on to earn a reputation in amateur ranks in Ireland and the US where he completed his studies.
He turned professional in 2002 on leaving the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He has won five times on the European tour and became the first Irishman to win the US Open in Pebble Beach, California, in June.
He has also represented Britain and Ireland in the amateur Walker Cup matches against the US and has twice represented Europe in the Ryder Cup. He won the final match to clinch the trophy at Celtic Manor in Wales in October.
Bruce Robinson, head of Northern Ireland’s 25,000 civil servants, receives a knighthood in the honours list.
Sir Bruce, as he will be known, has an extensive track record as a senior government official in a range of Stormont departments, including finance and enterprise, and was head of the former inward investment agency the Industrial Development Board.
He heads the civil service and is its most senior official with responsibility for delivery of the Stormont Executive’s four-year Programme for Government.
Also honoured is Dr Peter Fitzgerald, managing director of Randox Laboratories, the medical diagnostics company he founded nearly 30 years ago. He receives a CBE.
Both he and his company have received numerous awards including the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, the MacRobert Award for Innovation in Science and Engineering, and the Ernst and Young International and Irish Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2004.
BBC journalist and broadcaster Mark Carruthers is honoured in his capacity as chairman of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. He receives an OBE for his services to drama in Northern Ireland.
The Lyric Theatre reopens in April after an £18 million investment.
Also honoured with an OBE is the chairman of George Best Belfast City Airport, Brian Ambrose. He receives his honour in respect of his services to aviation.
Also honoured is John Maxwell, father of Paul Maxwell who died along with Lord Louis Mountbatten when an IRA bomb destroyed their boat off the coast of Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, in August 1979. Mr Maxwell receives an MBE in respect of his services to education in his native Fermanagh.
The bulk of those honoured receive awards for local, voluntary and community work. Eighty per cent were nominated by other members of the public.