Examiner Irish News

2,000 pupils suspended from schools every week

by Neans McSweeney and Niall Murray
UP TO 2,000 pupils are suspended from schools each week, as teachers attempt to control unruly classes, a conference of concerned parents was told.
A leading parent activist told the national congress of the Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges, in Mullingar, suspensions are compounding the growing problem of back-door expulsion in secondary schools where children are given open-ended suspensions.
The Department of Education said last night, that while no official record is kept, the figure seems very high and measures to be introduced shortly would give schools alternatives to sending students home for extended periods.
Former PAVSCC president, Nick Killian, warned that there is growing concern at the increasing level of pupils not accounted for in our education system. He also said there are fears that many of those on an open-ended ban from school fall through the cracks and drop out early.
"We now have so many suspensions in place at any one time, that in my reckoning, there are at least 2,000 students per week on suspension.
"The worst scenario is an open-ended suspension which is as good as expelling the student, or the situation where a principal encourages the parent to place the student in another school," said Mr Killian.
He added the new appeals system provided under the Education Act could not come into force soon enough because angry parents have no way of appealing suspension decisions.
"With both parents now working in most families, if a student is suspended, it simply becomes a holiday for them. While some parents will react angrily to the suspension and impose a further sanction on the child, others choose to ignore what has happened," he said.
"The appeals system should click into place to offer parents an honourable alternative to resolve a local difficulty. The Freedom of Information Act will also be a piece of useful legislation, offering parents an opportunity to command management boards to justify a suspension," he said.
The Department of Education said discipline is a matter for individual schools' boards of management, who should inform students of an agreed code of conduct. A spokesman said the Department does not monitor the number of students under suspensions at a given time, but he said Mr Killian's estimation of 2,000 in any week was very high.
"We hope to have the appeals system in place by the start of the next school year and a number of support initiatives due to be implemented should also give school boards opportunities to avoid suspensions," the spokesman said.
"Most suspensions are of less than two or three days, but we give priority to seeking school places for anybody under the age of 15 who is out of school for longer periods," he added.
Minister Martin plans to have greater psychological services in place in all schools shortly, and is planning to introduce revamped school attendance legislation by the end of the summer.
It is also envisaged every school in disadvantaged areas will soon have access to a specially trained remedial home-school liaison teacher.

Mariah Carey jets into Kerry for a fleeting visit

by Donal Hickey
MEGASTAR Mariah Carey sampled some of the tourist delights of Kerry during a fleeting visit, at the weekend.
The world's number one female singer flew into Kerry Airport, early yesterday, and overnighted in the four-star Killarney Park Hotel, which was named the AA hotel of the year in 1998.
Her Gulf Stream private jet arrived from Germany at 1am and four limousines, including one stretch limo, brought the star, her mother, other members of her family and friends, the ten miles to Killarney.
She was also accompanied by two security men.
Having relaxed in the hotel, yesterday morning, Ms Carey, an American with Irish roots, later took in the beauty spots with a visit to Muckross House and gardens and Ladies' View.
She described as a special treat a visit to the farm of Michael Jim O'Donoghue, near Muckross, where she was a spectator at sheepdog trials.
There she mingled with the locals and enjoyed chatted amiably with them.
The party had a brief stop at Molly Darcy's pub for lunch and Ms Carey then went shopping in the Blarney Woollen Mills store, Killarney, as well as paying a visit to St Mary's Cathedral.
The party left for Kerry airport and flew to Dublin, last evening, after spending less than 24 hours in the Kingdom.
Dressed in tight jeans with turn-ups, six-inch high heels, a blue tight-fitting top and Gucci sun glasses, the plaited and tanned singing sensation had no objections at all to having her photograph taken.
"Hi everybody,'' was all she would say, however, before jetting off again, after her fleeting visit to Kerry.

Report on violence against women urges imprisonment for all rapists

by Seán McCárthaigh
A MAJOR report on violence against women has recommended custodial sentences for all convicted rapists.
The first report of the National Steering Committee on Violence Against Women, launched in Dublin yesterday by its chairperson and Junior Justice Minister, Mary Wallace, also seeks greater consistency in sentencing policy.
However, the Committee has not sought the introduction of fixed minimum sentences for those convicted of serious sexual offences.
"Only in cases of a wholly exceptional nature should non-custodial options be considered," says the report.
Committee member, Olive Braiden, of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said mandatory sentencing involving minimum terms of imprisonment was not advised because of the discretion that needed to be applied in each case.
However, she claimed judges needed to show "greater consistency" in sentencing in order to prevent the public outrage which followed the perceived lenient sentences in several high profile cases including that of Kilkenny woman, Lavinia Kerwick.
The report also strongly recommends greater participation in rehabilitative programmes for the perpetrators of violence against women, although not as an alternative to imprisonment.
Other recommendations involving reform of the criminal justice system include more female judges, increased Family Court facilities and the introduction of video evidence for female victims of violence. The report criticised public information material as being "ad hoc" and "not as effective as it should be."
Ms Wallace said the clear message on International Women's Day was that violence against women is a crime and always wrong.
The Minister also announced that plans for the introduction of a single, nationwide helpline number for female victims of violence were near completion.
Ms Wallace said other measures under consideration by the Government which should reduce the under-reporting of violent crimes against women included the establishment of a sex offenders register and the granting of separate legal representation for rape victims.
Meanwhile, Green MEP, Patricia McKenna said violence against women continued to be a massive problem across the EU.
As many as 20 per cent of girls are sexually abused before the age of 18, said Ms McKenna.
She also claimed there were 500,000 cases of trafficking women for the purpose of sexual exploitation every year.

Semi-state workers in line for shares bonanza

by Susan Calnan
THOUSANDS of workers in commercial semi-state firms are in line for a multi-million pound windfall, as their negotiators intend repeating the deal which has secured Telecom E´ireann employees shares worth £100,000.
SIPTU general secretary John McDonnell said he intended following the precedent set by the 11,000 Telecom workers in their negotiations for the sell-off of the company.
The union is involved in talks with ESB, Bord Gais, Aer Lingus, Aer Rianta and parts of CIE.
"While the position of each individual company is different and each one is at a different stage in negotiations, the principle of employee share option programmes (ESOPs) and other profit-sharing agreements, is something which SIPTU and its members supports," said Mr. McDonnell.
"Not only does it give workers the opportunity to get a better share of the national income, it also gives them a say in the long-term development of the company." Meanwhile, as market sources anticipate that the value of Telecom Eireann may increase by the time the initial public offer is made in June, the incentive for employees to become involved in profit-sharing schemes looks as if it is beginning to grow.
Under their deal, any Telecom employee with more than a year's service has the option of acquiring up to 14·9% of the company's shares. "One of the biggest concerns for workers is the preservation of their jobs and their earnings," Mr McDonnell added.

Road bill to spiral as traffic increases

by John O'Mahony
THE bill for Ireland's crumbling road network is estimated at £6,139 million, if it is to cope with the projected increase in the road traffic over the next 20 years.
With the total number of cars on the roads set to double by the year 2025, a new report has identified the need for a large investment programme to ensure that Primary and Secondary roads can cope safely with the increase in volume.
The cost of improvement works to 2019 is estimated at £2,252 million, with an additional £1,646 million needed for the backlog of costs up to the end of this year.A rebuilding programme, including new urban road schemes, will cost £1,049 million with £355 million needed to bring pavements and bridges up to standard.
The survey, published by the National Road Authority (NRA), found that some of the country's main roads were dangerously overcrowded and called for additional dual carriageways to cope with increased flow.It was also found that the record sale of new cars, on the back of a economic boom, resulted in increased accident costs and was having a negative impact on the environment.
The National Roads Needs Survey, which took two years to complete, provides the Roads Authority with a blueprint for a national roads policy for 2000-2019.It found that with the volume of traffic set to increase by 6% per annum, the majority of Ireland's road network would not meet the required safety standards.
Some of the country's main roads that are currently overloaded include: the N6 — from Galway to Kinnegad, N7 — from Limerick to Portlaoise, N8 — from Fermoy to Portlaoise and N11 — from Enniscorthy to Rathnew.
It was also recommended that new stretches of dual carriageways be introduced on the N 17 — from Galway to Tuam, N18 — from Galway to Gort, N20 — Cork to Charleville and N25 — from Midleton to Youghal.
The number of cars on the roads is also expected to grow significantly in the next decade, with an increase of 250% projected by 2020.The volume of heavy vehicles is expected to grow by 50% by 2010, with that figure doubling in 20 years time.To offset the increase in demand, the report has called for an injection of £5,202 million to bring existing national primary and secondary roads up to scratch.

Able-bodied attitudes are worst problem for disabled

IF you were to ask a disabled person what their biggest problem was, you might just be surprised at the answer you'd get.
More than likely, their foremost concern would not be the unfairness of their situation. Neither would they be likely to indulge in a string of complaints about the impossibility of their lives.
Time after time, disabled people have made it perfectly clear that their biggest gripe is the lack of access they face when trying to live their lives.
It's not their particular situation which maddens and infuriates them. For if you are differently abled, then it follows that, like the rest of society, you must have, somewhere along the line, managed to come to terms with your own particular limitations. We all have them. But when you have taken that step, and are more than willing to go on from there, it must be infuriating beyond measure to find your way — quite literally — blocked at every turn.
If you are disabled and have a specially equipped car, you are likely to find the few parking spaces reserved for your use taken up by someone whose just popped in to the building in question, leaving you to await their pleasure.
It's as if the perception is that the disabled somehow have all the time in the world, and are not on tight schedules like the rest of us.
If you are wheelchair bound and you need to catch a bus, you could be in for a rough ride — or none at all. Far too many buses are still not equipped with ramps or in any way prepared to accommodate the disabled.
If you want, say, to go to the hairdressers for a cut and blow-dry, such a simple pleasure could turn into a major production when you realise you can't even get in the door, let alone manoeuvre yourself up to the washbasin.
And if, sick and tired of it all, you and your wheelchair want to take to the woods and enjoy a few hours in the great outdoors, the chances of specialised access to information centres and signposted trails are slim.
Those who would defend this state of affairs usually claim that this sort of scenario is not the result of lack of awareness of those with special needs. Nor is it a policy of deliberate exclusion.
It is because, they argue, the facilities in question were built in those unenlightened times when special needs simply were not recognised. Which is all well and good, until you consider how many new shops, buildings offices, hairdressers and forest trails are still being developed without even the most fleeting of thoughts for the disabled.
Take the case of Ardee Castle in County Louth, for instance. The magnificent 13th century building is owned by Louth County Council, who granted planning permission for its refurbishment. The work will transform the building into a major tourist attraction. But there's just one problem. Ferdia Community Development Ltd have somehow managed to completely overlook the needs of at least one section f the community. There is no access for the disabled, who cannot enjoy the castle, restaurant or craft centre.
"I've never been in it, and now I never will be able to because there are steps up to the door," said one local man who is confined to a wheelchair.
The National rehabilitation Board have listed 10 points in need of urgent attention including a ramp at the main entrance and lift access to the District Court, which is held on the top floor of the Castle.
And a spokesperson for Louth County Council has said that they are reviewing their initial decision. Which is, of course, good news.
But such retrospective action can be costly, and is a clear indication that the message regarding the rights — not privileges — of the disabled — still hasn't really got through to the policy makers.

Archbishop regrets his talk offended many people

by Linda McGrory
ARCHBISHOP Desmond Connell regrets remarks made by him during a speech last week managed to offend many people especially women.
In a television interview on Saturday, however, Archbishop Connell denied stating as a judgment that children who are planned by their parents are technological products.
The Archbishop, who delivered his controversial speech in Maynooth last Tuesday, also denied saying planned children are less loved by their parents and insisted he had been misunderstood in the widespread public debate that followed his speech.
However, he stood over his remarks about artificial fertilisation and said parents using invitro-fertilisation were using an inappropriate method to conceive children.
"The question I've been concerned about is the misuse of the control that's been put in our hands by technology," Archbishop Connell said. There could be no commendable reasons for avoiding conception and the Church teaches against artificial conception and against a mentality of control, he said.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Dublin diocese insisted the Church leader did not do a u-turn on his previous remarks by saying he regretted causing offence.
He said people could judge the issue for themselves if they check the full text of the speech on the diocesan website.
The diocesan spokesman said Dr Connell's first concern was for those people who genuinely mistook his text as passing a judgement on them if they had planned their families.
"We want to reassure people that Dr Connell was expressing concern about the possible misuse of control in the reproduction of children who are after all, a gift from God," he said.
This was clear with certain reproductive technologies but may not be totally absent sometimes in family planning, the spokesperson said adding that the Church believes very deeply that one of God's greatest gifts to us is the capacity to create new life with him.
Calling for a public discussion about the issues the debate raised last week, Dr Connell's office said it was clear to people of goodwill the Archbishop was expressing concern about a misuse of control, not judging people.
"The discussion is too important to be clouded by hysteria and it must respect the insights and contributions of everybody," the diocesan spokesperson said.

Daly highlights issues of suicide and peace

by Linda McGrory
SUICIDE and peace on the island are two of the biggest challenges facing Irish society and the Church today, according to the former primate of All-Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly.
Cardinal Daly, said he agreed with existentialist philosopher Albert Camus that the most fundamental philosophical and theological question for people was: is life worth living or not?
Speaking of Camus' The Myth of Sysiphus, Dr Daly described how the Gods have ordered Sisyphus to eternally roll a rock to the top of a mountain from where it would then fall back of its own weight.
Sysiphus then becomes the absurd hero whose futile labour represents all humans going through life with heavy loads and experiencing setbacks, but who still feel that life is worth living.
Suicide and violence in the North were examples of heavy burdens people had to carry, said Dr Daly who gave a homily at the annual Mass for Peace and Reconciliation in St Augustine's Church in Cork yesterday.
The 82-year-old former primate said peace on the island was still threatened by a number of factors with hardliners of both loyalist and republican persuasion dissenting from their respective leaderships and being committed to violence. "There is still too much mistrust between the two communities in the North, too much suspicion on each side of the motives and ulterior intentions of the other side.
"Neither is fully convinced as yet of the sincerity of the others commitment to the spirit and letter of the Agreement," said Cardinal Daly.
He said ending a 30-year-old conflict is of its nature not easy and after years of bloodshed and destruction, peace and normality return only slowly and gradually.
He said a kind of uneasy peace followed the official cessation of the Irish Civil War.
"I say this, not to excuse or condone violent acts now, but to make the point that a campaign of violence is not ended easily or instantly."
On the question of suicide, Dr Daly recounted incidents north and south of the border where he had to give guidance to families distraught by the death of a loved one by their own hand.
He said intending suicides often gave no clue as to their intention to kill themselves, a fact that left their families and friends devastated and sometimes blaming themselves for not being able to prevent it. The now-retired Church leader is currently writing a book entitled: The Nobleness of God.
Along with addressing the philosophy of theism and atheism, Dr Daly hopes to include a chapter in his new book on the philosophical and theological dilemma posed by taking one's own life.
However, he said one constant in the quest for peace and the problem of suicide was the great need for prayer.
"Things which are impossible for human agencies are possible through prayer, for nothing is impossible for God."

Students must be protected against exploitation by greedy employers

LABOUR shortages and the economic boom are enticing more students into the workplace. But, unscrupulous employers are ignoring guidelines, making pupils toil for long hours, which contributes to absenteeism and below-average academic performances, a parent's group claims.
Part-time work was never more readily available to post-primary students. Pocket-money is an essential part of life and the desire for the latest fashions and an active social life result in more teenagers taking up work, the congress of the National Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges heard at the weekend.
Some employers exploit young people and consistently ignore guidelines set out in the Protection of Young Persons (Employment Act), county Meath VEC member, Nick Killian, told delegates in Mullingar. Half of the students working are paid less than £2 per hour. Just a small percentage earn over £5 an hour. The maximum weekly hours a 14-year-old can work is 35 hours during holiday time. They are not permitted to work during school term. At 15, they can also work a maximum of eight hours a week during school term, he said.
However, increasing numbers of students work longer hours and many juggle homework and part-time jobs, cut corners and lose ambition, he claimed. These cubs of the tiger economy must be protected. Employers must be made aware of their responsibilities and parents must be cautious when advising their children about part-time work,'' he urged.

Campaigners join chain of events to cut nations' debt

Limbo dancer, Richard, at the Central Bank yesterday, supporting the Trocaire campaign to cancel unpayable Third World debt.

by Seán McCárthaigh
A HUMAN chain was formed around the Central Bank in Dublin yesterday to highlight the campaign to cancel unpayable Third World debt for the millennium.
Over 400 people took part in the ceremony, which was organised by Trocaire, Jubilee 2000 and the One World Network of Students in Ireland.
Similar events were being held in around 50 other countries across the world. Trocaire spokesperson, Caoimhe de Barra, said that an estimated ten children had died in the developing world during the ten minutes it had taken to form the human chain.
Mr de Barra claimed such deaths were directly linked to the debt crisis in their countries because of government policies to sacrifice investment in healthcare to repay their debts.
"It is obscene that, at the turn of the millennium, the weight of unpayable debt is crushing economies and literally taking people's lives," said Mr de Barra.
He pointed out that the G7 group of the world's leading economies, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, spent $459 billion on military expenditure in 1995.
"The estimated cost of implementing a human approach to debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries would be $100 billion," he noted.
Mr de Barra acknowledged the concern that has been expressed that the campaign could also serve to cancel the debt of dictators as well as other developing countries.
"The campaign is simple in its message but complex in its application.
"Countries' debt will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, in a transparent manner, ensuring that corrupt leaders do not ever benefit from debt cancellation," he added.

Freedom for my people

by Nell McCafferty
THE journey began in 1907 and today, International Women's Day, we close a century of feminist struggle and celebration with commemorations all over the world. How far we have come, how far we still have to go, can be measured by starting at the beginning.
On March 8, 1907 in the city of New York, women garment workers marched through the streets with picket signs demanding improved working conditions and the recognition of equal rights for women. They were impoverished and exhausted by labour in sweatshops. They asked for "decent wages. A 10-hour day". The police attacked, dispersed and arrested them when they reached the financial districts.
The following year, exactly to the day, women workers in the needle trades again demonstrated on the Lower East Side of New York for the right to vote and an end to sweatshops and child labour. They, too, were attacked by police.
In 1910, the German socialist leader Clara Zetkin placed a resolution before the Second International Congress of workers. She proposed that March 8 be observed each year as International Women's Day in memory of those first struggles. And so it has been done, ever since, more or less, depending on how the struggle for women's right has waxed and waned around the globe.
There will not be much cause for celebration in Buncrana, Co Donegal for example, where, ironically, women workers in Fruit of the Loom face redundancy. There will, though, be smiles on the faces of their sisters in Morocco, to where the garment industry has been relocated. Good wages in excellent conditions in Buncrana meant lower profits. Cheap labour in non-unionised Morocco is manna from heaven for women there who have a wage for the first time in their lives. The women of Buncrana face the nightmare of high mortgages on new houses. The women of Morocco are refurbishing humble homes and putting food on the table.
Still, though, women both here and there have the vote. It's something. There have been other gains and losses, equally spectacular. The Irish National Women's Council (NWC) decided to close this century with an International Women's Day emphasis on the gains. There are so many celebrations going on throughout the country today that the NWC even chose to celebrate in advance, last Thursday. The venue chosen by them raised quite a few eyebrows. The event was staged in, of all places, the chic clothing store of Arnott's.
There was a fashion show and wine. There was a treasure hunt for items marked in punts which the winners had to convert into euros. Most women still do the household shopping, the NWC explained, and the purpose of the event was to raise the awareness about the coming new currency.
As the NWC celebrated the undoubted increase in the earning and spending power of most Western women (equal pay and equal opportunity, though not fully realised, have had a dramatic effect), there issued a counterpoint from the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Desmond Connell, head of the all-male, (
unelected clergy in Ireland. He still objects to contraception, the use of which reduced the high rate of childbirth and released women to enter the labour force.
The two statements neatly capture the dilemma facing white Western women today, as we count the losses and gains of a century's struggle. There is no doubt that the biggest problem facing us is the delicate balancing act between spending and tending. Of course women could run the world, if only they had a baby-sitter. Who will mind the children? What, sisters, is to be done about childcare?
Even those women (and they are the majority) who confine their ambitions to the domestic world — home, family and job — are exhausted. Executive or button-pusher, wealthy or earning an average industrial wager, the working mother has found that she closes the century doing two jobs where hitherto, if she stayed full-time at home, she did only one. Home working was, and is, a huge job, requiring far more labour than was ever expended in a sweat shop, but both?
It would help enormously if men lent a hand but those fathers who do take an interest in the domestic world are also feeling the strain. In an age where it is necessary for both partners to engage in paid work if they want to buy a house, have average standards of comfort — some spending money, a car that starts in the morning, an annual family holiday — the dual income family is worn to a shred. They both come home tired in the evening and both have to face the children, the cooking, the planning for next day's requirements (school, doctor, dentist, swimming pool, youth club) and at the weekend they have to get up for the pleasure of seeing and talking to their children in daylight hours. They might even talk to each other if they haven't fallen out in the supermarket during the weekend shop.
Such conscientious coupledom is not, however, the norm.
As working mothers face the third millennium — and the third job, of domesticating fathers — childcare is the big, the dominant, the hair-tearing issue. The NWC has produced loads of well-researched solutions to the problem (last Thursday could charitably be regarded as a well-deserved day off) which involves tax credits, state creches, workplace creches et cetera, all perfectly feasible if the Government chose, or were forced, to bend to the national will. Remember, these are the guys who said in 1974 that the introduction of equal pay would wreck the economy; now there's a labour shortage.
One intriguing, optimistic clue to the future may be seen in the re-organisation of small-farm families. While the mothers go out to paid jobs (they're now called the laying hens) the fathers, their workload necessarily reduced by CAP reforms, tend to the children, the animals, and the home.
In South Kerry recently, where it was still raining after 18 months, this writer was pleasantly stunned to hear men talk of the silver lining around the clouds above. They waxed lyrical and unabashed about something their own fathers had never known — being close to the child all day. They didn't much like the housework, of course, though a well turned meal was now recognised for what it is — a civilised achievement. CAP means these families will never be rich, except in family harmony, attuned to the consoling rhythms of nature.
How much do we need, how many hours a day do we want to work, anyway? The chair of NWC, Katherine Zappone, has posed the question well and heretically: "Can we have money and meaning? Maybe less money, more meaning is the answer."
And a little redistribution of existing wealth to fund childcare, as Clara Zetkin said in 1910.

Men are snivelling wimps when hit with illness

by John O'Mahony
MEN may well be the dominant force in the universe, but when it comes to illness they are nothing but a bunch of snivelling wimps.
New research has shown that although man has been labelled king of his species, his crown may be slipping thanks to a susceptibility to colds and flus.
The female of the species, it seems, is far better equipped for everyday living and clearly rules the roost when it comes to battling illness.
The recent study shows that women are more aggressive when it comes to fighting viruses, and when the body comes under attack from bacteria their immune system is stronger than their male counterparts.
It was also found that ill men were twice as likely as women to be labelled "unbearable" by their partners.
However, though men have been sneered at for years for being pathetic patients, the study of immune systems has shown that there could be a medical reason for their high levels of self-pity.
As well as having a shorter life span than their partners, it seems that man's immune systems are far different and worse at battling viruses.
Women's immune response changes during pregnancy and a number of other factors show that their sex hormones affect the immune system.
This female advantage backfires dramatically when diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis cause the immune system to attack itself. The vast majority of people with these auto-immune diseases are women, a fact which has baffled medical science for centuries.
The research is the result of an 18-month study which calls for an aggressive campaign of research to discover why men and women suffer so differently from auto-immune diseases.
The goal of researches is to increase awareness of the differences and suggest that medical experts consider gender differences in designing new studies.

Irish achievers may get knighthood-type honour

by John O'Mahony
A NEW honour, similar to the knighthood awarded in Britain, is being considered to mark the special achievements and contributions of Irish men and women.
The award, to be based on the 18th-century Order of St Patrick, is likely to be introduced by the Irish and British governments and may be announced by the Queen of England during her first state visit to Ireland next year.
The move is seen as another attempt to strengthen cross-border relations. The British monarchy and Irish President Mary McAleese have also come out in favour of the move.
According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, candidates for the new honour will be listed by a cross-border council and will be bestowed on behalf of the President and the British monarchy.
The order will have two ranks, knight and members, and will awarded to anyone who has helped improve Anglo-Irish relations through their work or achievements.
Those in line for the honour include Nobel Peace Prize winners David Trimble and John Hume, poet Seamus Heaney, sports star Eddie Irvine and David Humphreys for his role in Ulster's historic European Cup success.
Up to now the Irish constitution has prohibited citizens from accepting foreign honours without the government's permission.
The Order of St Patrick was created in 1783 by George III and was conceived as a national honour for leaders in Ireland. It was abandoned in 1922 when Ireland was partitioned.