Lawyer Amal Clooney nominated for Tipperary Peace Prize

Other nominees include Fr Patrick Devine, Martin McGuinness and Amnesty Ireland

Amal and George Clooney attend a Leaders’ Summit for Refugees at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September. She has been nominated for the Tipperary Peace Prize.  Photograph: Peter Foley/Getty Images
Amal and George Clooney attend a Leaders’ Summit for Refugees at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September. She has been nominated for the Tipperary Peace Prize. Photograph: Peter Foley/Getty Images

Lebanese-British lawyer, activist and author Amal Clooney is among the nominees for the 2017 Tipperary Peace Prize.

Wife of actor George Clooney, her clients include WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. She has also represented the former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko.

Another nominee is Co Roscommon-born priest Fr Pádraig Devine, founder and international chair of the Shalom Centre for conflict resolution and reconciliation in East Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

From Frenchpark and a member of the Society of African Missions, Fr Devine has spent 25 years helping to end conflict and poverty among tribes in Africa.

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In 2009, he founded the Shalom Centre which, to date, has helped more than 30,000 people build peace in their communities.

Previous recipients

In 2013, he was presented with the International Caring Award in Washington DC by former US secretary of state Colin Powell. Previous recipients of that award included the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Senator George Mitchell, and former US president Jimmy Carter.

Other nominees for the Tipperary Peace Prize 2017 include former Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness; Amnesty Ireland; the Syrian White Helmets rescue workers and Lebanese activist Lady Rabab al Sadr.

The 2016 prize was awarded to the then US secretary of state John Kerry.

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry is a contributor to The Irish Times