Ryan Tubridy is set to be honoured with the James Joyce Award by University College Dublin.
The James Joyce Award, also known as the Honorary Fellowship of the Society, is an award given to individuals who’ve achieved outstanding success in their respective fields by UCD’s Literary and Historical Society.
Named after their alumnus, James Joyce, politicians, academics, and sportspeople have all been awarded over the years — with UCD’s Literary and Historical Society announcing that former Late Late Show host Ryan will be the latest honouree.
‘Big news! We’re delighted to welcome Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy as the recipient of the James Joyce Award, the Literary and Historical Society announced on social media. ‘Don’t miss this special event — Ryan will address the society and sit down for an interview before accepting the James Joyce Award!’
Ryan will receive the award during a ceremony on Monday, October 6, at the Fitzgerald Chamber in UCD, where his contemporaries, past and present, will congratulate the Virgin Radio UK presenter on the honour.
Dublin’s Q102 station, where Ryan’s radio show is broadcast in Ireland, also congratulated him, writing on their Instagram story, ‘congratulations to our own @instatubridy,’ while 2FM’s Donncha O’Callaghan commented with a series of clapping emojis.
Past recipients of the award include politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and John Hume, author and linguist Noam Chomsky, and, randomly enough, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, who received the award in 2009.
Ryan recently hosted former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on his ‘The Book Shelf’ podcast, where Ryan spoke about the ‘takeover of the Irish flag’ with concerns that Ireland will become a more populist state.
The broadcaster and presenter recalled seeing loads of tricolours ‘flapping in parts of Dublin’ on his recent trip to his hometown, saying that there was an idea that ‘the IRA own the flag’ when he was a child, and now ‘someone else is muscling in.’
As the conversation turned to politics, Leo noted that Ireland hadn’t turned to populism, prompting Ryan to wonder about the former Taoiseach’s stance on the current far-right rhetoric in Ireland.
‘When you see the riots in Dublin that time in November a couple of years ago, and then you see the — what I would argue is — the takeover of the Irish flag, which I’m not happy about as a citizen, to be honest with you,’ Ryan began, with Leo interjecting it was more of an ‘attempted takeover.’
‘They haven’t succeeded as far as I’m concerned,’ the former Fine Gael leader said.
‘Well, now, I appreciate that sentiment entirely,’ Ryan conceded, ‘That’s much better language.
‘When I was a kid, it was always “the IRA own the flag”. Now, it looks like someone else is muscling in to own the flag — our flag. It bothered me a little bit, I have to say, as a citizen.’
