By Staff Reporter

Jesuit priest Fr Joseph Mallin is to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin by Dublin City Council.

The 102-year-old son of Michael Mallin, one of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising, will be bestowed with the honour – which acknowledges the contribution of recipients to the life of Ireland’s capital city –  at a special ceremony in Hong Kong on 21 March.

Fr Mallin joins an illustrious list that includes former US presidents John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton, South African freedom fighter and president Nelson Mandela, Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the four members of rock band U2.

Dublin Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh said she was “honoured and privileged to propose Fr Joseph Mallin for Dublin City’s highest award, the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin.

“He is the last surviving child of an executed leader of the Easter 1916 Rising and also has spent a life serving the people of Hong Kong and Macau through his ministry and teaching.”

Among the privileges that come with the title are the right to bring goods into Dublin through the city gates without paying customs duties, the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries, and the right to vote in local and parliamentary elections.

Brother Kevin Crowley OFM Cap and John Giles were the last people to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 2015.