| Flatley honoured with Freedom of
Cork  By
Niamh Hennessy
IRISH dancing supremo Michael Flatley is to be given the Freedom of Cork.
The millionaire dancer and dad-to-be will be conferred with the honour
at a ceremony in Cork City Hall in May.
Mr Flatley will join a long list of distinguished Freemen of Cork including
President of Ireland Mary McAleese who was honoured in 2006 footballer
Roy Keane and Olympic medalist Sonia O’Sullivan honoured in a joint
ceremony in 2005 and former SDLP leader John Hume who was honoured in
2004.
Ms McAleese became the fourth President to be bestowed with the honour.
Mary Robinson, Éamonn de Valera and Douglas Hyde have also accepted
the honour as did former US President John F Kennedy.
Cork’s Lord Mayor Michael Ahern who has several national medals
for Irish dancing said the date for the latest ceremony would be agreed
with Mr Flatley and his wife Niamh after the birth of their baby.
Mr Ahern has spoken to Mr Flatley about the proposal and said the US-born
Fermoy-based star was “very pleased” about it.
Mr Ahern said: “I would like to honour him with the Freedom of the
City because he has created a very positive view of Ireland abroad to
an extent that no-one else has.
“He has shown and portrayed Irish culture to people on a world stage
and it reflects very well on us as a nation.
“And I think he’s the best dancer not just Irish dancer
the world has ever seen.”
Mr Flatley worked closely with the city council for one of its biggest
events during Cork 2005 when the city was the European City of Culture.
The former world tap dancing record holder worth an estimated £375million
led 8,371 people in a world record attempt on the city’s streets.
The six-minute Siege of Ennis dance entered the Guinness Book of Records
several weeks later.
The Freedom of the City — From sheep herding to school
access
THE Freedom of the City is an award made by some municipalities in Britain,
Ireland, Canada, South Africa, the United States and Italy to esteemed
members of its community; such people may then be termed Freemen or Freewomen
of the City.
The Free status dates back to medieval times when city and town charters
drew a distinction between free men and vassals of a feudal Lord. Early
Freedom of the City ceremonies had great importance in affirming that
the awardee enjoyed privileges such as the right to earn money and own
land and protection within the town.
In Britain the award is thought to have originated with the Freedom
of the City of London first made in 1237. There are still Freemen of the
City of London today.
New Freemen receive a guide to conducting their lives in an honourable
fashion. Freemen’s children get admission preference at the City
of London School and the City of London Freemen’s School. Also a
Freeman has the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge and
if officers of the City of London Police find a Freeman drunk and incapable
they will bundle him into a taxi and send him home rather than throw him
in a cell.
The benefit of immunity from prosecution for being drunk and disorderly
has long since disappeared however the driving rights were exercised on
June 17, 2006 when a flock of sheep was driven across the Millennium Bridge
at the start of London Architecture Week.
Today the Freedom of the City is still taken up by some 1,800 people every
year.
In the Republic of Ireland Freedom of the City is generally given to noted
foreign and national dignitaries and the list rarely exceeds a few dozen.
The cities of the Ireland generally give various privileges, for instance
Dublin allows the right to vote in certain elections, bring goods for
sale in the city without customs and the right to pasture sheep on common
ground such as College Green and St. Stephen’s Green. |
