Operation Power — former US ambassador surprises mother at UCC graduation 

Samantha Power, a former adviser to Barack Obama, arrived in Cork to surprise her mother, Dr Veronica Delaney, who was being conferred with an honorary degree in medicine at UCC

Professor Samantha greets her surprised mother, Dr Veronica Delaney, at UCC. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

As a former adviser to Barack Obama, she is used to top-secret operations and tight security.

And so 'mum was the word' on Friday as Professor Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the UN, slipped quietly into University College Cork (UCC) to surprise her mother, Dr Veronica Delaney, who was about to be conferred with an honorary degree in medicine from the university, as part of the graduation ceremony for some 200 other graduates of medicine.