The President of the European Commission Jose-Manuel Barroso will be awarded an honorary doctorate from University College Cork (UCC) today.

President Barroso will travel to Cork to receive the Doctor of Laws degree where he will deliver a 25-minute address.

This will be his second visit to UCC. He also addressed the University on the Lisbon Treaty in 2008.

Meanwhile Sinn Féin's EU candidate for Ireland South Liadh Ní Riada has criticised the decision of the University to award the honorary doctorate to Mr. Barroso.

She claims it "sends out the wrong message", adding that "The people of this country, not least third level students, have suffered a great deal because of the policy of austerity being pushed from the EU under Mr. Barroso's commission".