Gay Byrne to be honoured at Cork Person of the Year awards

Gay Byrne’s life and career will be honoured at next January’s Cork Person of the Year awards lunch.

The broadcaster, who passed away in 2019, will be honoured during the ‘In Memoriam’ section of the awards.

Awards founder and organiser, Manus O’Callaghan, said Byrne was a “colossus of Irish broadcasting” and always enjoyed “particularly high ratings in Cork.”

Byrne served as MC for the awards lunch in Cork back in 2000.

The other honouree, Rory Gallagher, was “Ireland’s first international rock star,” Mr O’Callaghan said,

The Gala Awards Lunch is set to take place on January 24 next year, and amongst the other awards presented will be the Cork Person(s) of the Year.

Gay’s wife Kathleen Watkins and their two daughters Crona and Suzy will attend the lunch and receive presentations on stage from the Lord Mayor of Cork and the Mayor of the County of Cork.