The former US ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith and her brother the late Edward Kennedy were this afternoon honoured with the Tipperary International Peace Award.
Accepting the award in Tipperary, Ms Kennedy Smith paid tribute to Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern and to the former SDLP leader John Hume. She said the men were extraordinary leaders of the peace process.
She also spoke of her pride in the role the US had played in the process.
Both Ms Kennedy Smith and the widow of the late Senator Edward Kennedy Victoria paid a special visit to the Kennedy Homestead at Dunganstown, New Ross, Co Wexford today to meet their Irish cousins for a private family gathering.
They were accompanied by Mrs Smith's daughter Amanda and her husband Carter Hood and their children, Summer and Stephanie.
The visit recalled images of President Kennedy in the same farmyard taking tea with his cousins in the full glare of the International press during his momentous Presidential visit to Ireland in 1963.
During today's visit, Minister of State, Sean Connick highlighted the development of the Kennedy Homestead Visitor centre, funding for which was announced in the last budget. He said he expected that work to start "within six months".
He said the project would include a new exhibition centre, restoration of existing buildings and a special section dedicated to the memory of Senator Edward Kennedy for "the significant role he played in Irish American affairs particularly in the architecture of the peace process and his tireless quest for peace on the island of Ireland."
"Our Family is deeply honoured to see the Irish Government taking this enormous interest in the development of the Kennedy Homestead Visitor attraction," Mrs Kennedy Smith While Mrs Kennedy added that she was particularly honoured and pleased to see her late husband Edward's work recognised in the proposed new exhibition centre.