Honorary degree for head of Cork's Penny Dinners

A volunteer who is the powerhouse behind Cork’s Penny Dinners first developed the helping gene when she realised that when her father went “missing” on Christmas morning he was actually out feeding the city’s elderly.

Caitriona Twomey, who is to receive an honorary doctorate of laws at UCC tomorrow, says she and her siblings used to get a little annoyed when their father Tom Lynch did a disappearing act on Christmas morning.

“We would be cheesed off, because we were waiting to open our selection boxes and he was out gallivanting. One year, we even wrote him a letter about it!