A virtual ceremony was held by the Irish Red Cross last night
Micheál lived with his family in the city and was working with the United Nation's World Food Programme when the Boeing 737 Max he was travelling on crashed shortly after takeoff in Ethiopia in March last year.
157 people died in the crash.
Micheál's wife Naoise accepted the award on his behalf during a virtual ceremony last night.
Paying tribute to her husband, Naoise said he was a humanitarian in every sense of the word:
"Mick believed that engineering was about people and people were at the heart of everything that he did. From the time we met at college he really believed he could make a difference in the world and he had the skills and talent to make that happen. But really, the reason that Mick was able to achieve all that he did was because he was intuitive about people, he was able to motivate them and have them share his enthusiasm and he did it all with such fun and laughter. He had a cheeky sense of humour and he was the kindest person you could meet and I know he would be blown away by this award – and probably a little bit embarrassed too because he never liked to be the centre of attention.”
