Drop-out Bob returns to university to claim his rightful fellowship

By Seán McCárthaigh

One of Ireland's most famous school drop-outs used his appearance at the L&H to lecture students on one of his famous themes Ireland and its parallels with a rat trap.

Sir Bob explained how the Ireland of his youth was the inspiration behind the Boomtown Rats' biggest hit. He told an audience of over 500 students how he emigrated to Britain in the 1970s to escape "being caught" in the rat trap that was Dublin where "the only thing it offered on a Saturday night was a fight.

"I didn't want to be part of a country where you were mocked to realise ambition rather than to articulate it," said the Live Aid founder.

Rather like the crowded Theatre L in the UCD Arts block, Sir Bob admitted that he felt "a huge claustrophobia" in the Ireland of pre-Celtic Tiger fame.

While welcoming the "improbable economic success" of the past decade, Geldof also expressed shock at the vulgarity that had accompanied the Celtic Tiger.

"I'm not sure you realise how virulent is the overt hatred of anyone else and other cultures in Ireland today," said a clearly angered Bob.

"You may well represent something I abhor," he told an audience who are more familiar with the mock sniping of student debates than being lectured on the gritty reality of Ireland in the 21st century, in which Sir Bob expressed a certain despair where by "the making of money seems to be the measure of success or failure."

One of the few lighter moments came during a Q&A session when he announced that one of his daughters was torn between being a fan of Eminem and Britney Spears. "She's resolved it somehow," he added in his famous Dublin drawl.

The 48-year-old star, who was accompanied by his father, Bob Snr, proved his own literary credentials by citing how his autobiography, "Is That It?" was required reading on reading courses in both Oxford and Cambridge.

Jarlath Regan, auditor of the L&H, told the packed auditorium that the society only awarded honorary fellowships to people "who deserved to be honoured." He claimed it was "truly inspirational" to have heard Sir Bob's observations on modern Ireland.