Offaly-born musician and producer Dónal Lunny is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the seventh RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.

The Folk Awards will be held at Vicar Street in Dublin at 8.00pm on Wednesday, February 26. The event will be hosted by John Creedon, and will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a living artist every year, whose contribution to Irish folk music has been significant over many years.

“[Lunny] defined much of the music of a generation at a time when traditional music was not mainstream and almost subversive,” said Peter Woods, head of RTÉ Radio 1. “His contribution to that music through Planxty, to Moving Hearts, Mozaik and of course the Bothies and beyond, sits alongside a career as a producer and collaborator across genres and as a true innovator.”

Previous recipients of the award include Tríona Ní Domhnaill, Mary Black, Christy Moore, Steve Cooney, Moya Brennan, and Andy Irvine.

The ceremony will feature a live performance by Lunny and his new group, Dónal Lunny’s Dark Horse.

Damien Dempsey, Róis, Seamas Hyland, Pólca 4, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and many others will also perform at the event.

A television highlights programme will be shown on RTÉ One on Saturday, March 1.

Lunny, born in Tullamore in 1947, has been playing music since 1966, when he, Mick Moloney, and Brian Bolger formed the Emmet Folk group. Since then, Lunny has been a founding member of ten different folk groups.

He became a producer in 1985 alongside his performing career, working with Kate Bush, Elvis Costello, Sinéad O'Connor, and more.