She will receive the award in recognition of her lifelong contribution and work with and on behalf of “the poor, the homeless and the abused in Ireland.”

Philomena’s search for her son Anthony, who was born in a mother and baby home in 1951, has touched millions of people in Ireland and around the world, both through the film and the book on which it was based.

Award was established in 2015 and promotes the link between Bruff and the Fitzgerald family bible.

Congregation rejects claims that they were paid any money for any adoption.