Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The 100 Greatest Irish People
It's been a while since I've posted on United Irelander and so I decided I'd return with a very ambitious post that I've always wanted to try.
I'm sure a lot of you remember the 100 Greatest Britons programme from 2002 from our neighbours across the water. Well while other countries adopted this idea, here in Ireland, (surprise, surprise) we did not make an effort and I've always felt that was a bit of a shame. After all, no one dwells and argues about their history more than us right?
So with RTE unwilling to take a stab at it, I figured here in the Blog O'Sphere we should all give it a go. I could compile a list myself but I'd rather get input and ideas from others to give it a bit of a broader appeal.
With that being the case I've written out a decent sized list below of notable Irish figures who I feel are deserving of a mention. What I'm hoping is that those of you reading this will add any names to the list who you feel deserve to be included. Feel free to criticise any names I've come up with too. This is not the finished list yet of course.
I have come up with the following names based upon their contribution to Irishness and Irish society as well as their impact upon the world at large.
Since I'm sure it will come up, I feel certain figures warrant inclusion on the list even if they were not born in the island. For example James Connolly, Eamon de Valera, St Patrick etc can be classed as Irish people. In the 100 Greatest Britons list, Freddie Mercury was included even though he was born in Zanzibar to Western Indian Parsi parents. I think that was correct. Having said that I do feel certain figures with Irish roots do not warrant inclusion. For example while John F. Kennedy and John Lennon were great figures proud of their Irish heritage, they are rightly regarded as great Americans and Britons respectively and it would be a bit farcical to include them.
Finally I will simply point out that this concept is designed to be a bit of fun and to hopefully stir up some good natured debate on our history. I'm not trying to be patronising or to propagate my politics (which is why I welcome your input).
So with that out of the way here are some names, in no particular order, which I feel warrant inclusion.
Ernest Shackleton
Oscar Wilde
Johnathan Swift
Bram Stoker
Roger Casement
William Butler Yeats
John Millington Synge
Gay Byrne
John Barry
Duke of Wellington
Michael Collins
Bob Geldof
Saint Patrick
Phil Lynott
Oliver Plunkett
Daniel O'Connell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Eamon de Valera
John Philip Holland
Robert Boyle
George Best
Roy Keane
Tom Crean
Arthur Guinness
Bono
Lady Gregory
Francis Ledwidge
James Larkin
Samuel Beckett
Robert Emmet
Brendan Behan
Maude Gonne
Countess Markiewicz
Sean McBride
C.S. Lewis
Henry Joy McCracken
Douglas Hyde
Edmund Rice
Wolfe Tone
Thomas Clarke
John Redmond
Patrick Pearse
Terence McSwiney
Edmund Burke
St Brendan
Thomas Ashe
Hugh O'Donnell
Arthur Griffith
Sean Lemass
Michael Davitt
Thomas Russell
Erskine Childers
T.K. Whitaker
Edward Carson
James Connolly
Kevin O'Higgins
Richard Harris
Peter O'Toole
Brian Boru
Hugh O'Neill
Grace O'Malley
Patrick Kavanagh
Phelim O'Neill
James Joyce
Sean O'Casey
George Bernard Shaw
Sean O'Riada
Sean O'Neill
Terence O'Neill
Sean Purcell
Christy Ring
Jack Lynch
Garret Fitzgerald
Flann O'Brien
Seamus Heaney
John Hume
Eoghan Rua O'Neill
Patrick Sarsfield
Michael O'Leary
Ernest Walton
William Rowan Hamilton
Van Morrisson
Anne Devlin
Edmund Ignatius Rice
Henry Grattan
Lord Edward Fitzgerald
Hans Sloane
Lord Castlereagh
Lord Londonderry, Marquis of Downshire
Viscount Alanbrooke
John Scotus
George Berkeley
William Parsons
Charles Parsons
John Boyle O'Reilly
Thomas Addis Emmet
Thomas Francis Meagher
Willie John McBride
Harry Clarke
Paul McGrath
Lord Kelvin
Alex Higgins
Michael O'Leary
John Tyndall
Martin Sheridan
Peadar O'Donnell
Bobby Sands
Harry Ferguson
Lord Pirrie
Thomas Andrews
Chaim Herzog
Susan Jocelyn Bell
Professor Patrick Thornberry
William Massey
John Ballance
Fr. Murphy
Mary Robinson
Shane O'Neill
Issac Butt
John Kelly of Killane
Msgr. Denis Faul.
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