Comedian Tommy Tiernan, Munster's rugby players and actor James Nesbitt were among recipients of People of the Year awards in Dublin at the weekend. A survivor of last year's Navan bus crash, in which five schoolgirls died, was named Young Irish Person of the Year.
Tiernan was named Ireland's Funniest Living Person, while the Irish Person of the Year award was presented, jointly, to the Munster rugby squad, winners of this year's Heineken European Cup.
Fourteen-year-old Anita McCluskey, whose sister Claire was killed in the Navan bus crash and who afterwards set up the Seedlings group to assist crash survivors with bereavement counselling, received the Young Irish Person of the Year Award.
Nesbitt was presented with an award for his efforts to help the Northern Ireland charity Wave, which helps people bereaved by the Troubles.
Kerrywoman Mags Riordan was presented with the International Person of the Year award for her work in Malawi, where her son Billy died in a drowning accident in 1999. Galway GAA footballer and hurler Alan Kerins was also honoured for his work in an Aids-ravaged part of Zambia.
Nigerian-born Chinedu Onyejelem received an award for his role in promoting cross-cultural understanding in Ireland. He established Ireland's only multi-cultural newspaper, Metro Éireann, in 2002.
The presentation was made by Tánaiste Mary Harney at the ceremony in Dublin's City West Hotel,
The event, hosted by Gay Byrne and broadcast on RTÉ 1 television, was sponsored by ESB and organised by Rehab.
