Sheahan conferred with honorary degree

His music has been a tonic for millions and now John Sheahan can legitimately call himself a doctor of music after receiving an honorary degree from Trinity College.

The last surviving original member of The Dubliners was conferred with his Doctor in Music at a ceremony at the university yesterday along with President Michael D Higgins, historian Sr Margaret MacCurtain and campaigner for the rights of deaf people, Liisa Marjatta Kauppinen.

Professor of Latin, Anna Chahoud, described John Sheahan, 74, as a “musical artist capable of capturing the essence of a people and transforming its oral tradition into a perennial treasure of the world”.