Playwright Brian Friel was yesterday presented with a major honour by President Mary McAleese, who described him as a "quiet scholarly genius".
The President conferred the gold Torc on the playwright which signals his election as Saoi of Aosdána, an Irish affiliation of artists.
The 77-year-old Friel said he was really delighted with the award and that he had become part of an exclusive club.
He joins Louis le Brocquy, Benedict Kiely, Seamus Heaney and Anthony Cronin.
The Torc is the highest honour bestowed by Aosdána for singular and sustained distinction in the arts. No more than five living members can be elected as Saoi - which literally means "wise one" - at any one time. The ceremony was held in the Arts Council. The President said she hoped those present would forgive some "Ulsteritis", as she took special pride in conferring the Torc on that great Northerner Brian Friel, who was born in Omagh, Co Tyrone.
She said: "The gold Torc is an emblem of honour so appropriate for this most honourable of men whose quiet scholarly forensic genius has, in a world of cut and paste, of easy epithets and instant analysis, drawn us confidently back to more studied reflection, a more stringent probing of things which masquerade as sole truths and realities."
Friel had never been given to pronouncements. He made his points within his art. He confronted the great issues of Ireland, its history, religion, politics, its past, its present and its future on his own terms, she said. "He explores idealism, relationships, emotions, moods, hopes and disappointments with a breathtaking deftness which has seen him recognised around the world as one of the finest playwrights in the English language and a seminal influence on Irish theatre, Irish thinking and thinking about Ireland."
The President said Friel, the person, consistently asserted, as was his right, a personal reticence. His outstanding literary canon of plays and stories spoke with an outstanding power, wisdom, clarity and a vindicating accessibility that had made a household name of his works.
These included Philadelphia Here I Come!, The Freedom of the City, Faith Healer, Aristocrats, Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney, The Home Place.
Faith Healer, starring Ralph Fiennes, Ingrid Craigie and Ian McDiarmid, is currently playing in the Gate Theatre.
For a Saoi to be elected, 15 Aosdána members must nominate a candidate of merit and distinction. An approval must consist of 50 per cent plus one of the 250 membership, voting by postal ballot.