Alternative Greatest Irish Top 10

onlyrocknroll

Denerick wrote: »

The following should definately have been included:

Daniel O'Connell. (Of international significance. One early edition of the Websters dictionary had a picture of O'Connell beside the word 'agitator')

C.S. Parnell.

Jonathon Swift.

Edmund Burke.

Henry Grattan.

Wolfe Tone. (For his 'Argument on behalf of the Catholics' if nothing else)

Good list.

ValJester

1.Daniel O Connell-Surely needs no introduction
2.Michael Davitt-land activist who saved us from a second famine and ended the landlord system
3.St Colmcille- without whom the course of history would have been very different, as he was part of the re-Christianisation of Europe.
4.WB Yeats-did more than anyone else for the discovery of our heritage,and helped create this nation's identity and save our past from being forgotten.
5.Mary Robinson-A key figure in ending Civil War politics and socially modernising this nation.
6.Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington-A great suffragette, pacifist and nationalist.
7.Edmond Burke-possibly the most important political thinker in terms of his relevance to our times.
8.Sean Lemass-Made this nation what it is today by taking the necessary measures to create social mobility,modernise the economy and open Ireland up to the outside world, including co-operating with Terence O Neill to make it possible for the two Irelands to co-exist.
9.James Connolly-created a template for socialism applicable to Ireland, and remains a model of defiance and principle in the face of greed and cruelty.
10.Terence O Neill- was willing to put principle before his career, and to try to make it possible for the two Irelands to co-exist peacefully.

p to the e

I'm trying to get a nice mix into it across a lot of topics and generations. Somehow I just couldn't find any Irish sports greats. Well none worthy of "The List" anyway.

1. WBYeats - Nobel prize laureate and pioneer of literature and theatre in Ireland
2. William Rowan Hamilton - Mathematical and physics genius, well before his time
3. Eamonn De Valera - Love him or hate him he changed Irish politics as we know it
4. Peter O Toole - For his timeless acting
5. Michael Collins - Irish Revolutionary and martyr that helped change the face of Ireland
6. John Field - Composer and first to develop the nocturne
7. Arthur Guinness - Shrewd business man and world recognised for his product
8. Mícheál O Mhuircheartaigh - Entertaining the nation selflessly for over 60 years
9. Mary Robinson - Achieved noteriety for her cause of promoting human rights
10. Constance Markievicz - Irish revolutionary and political figure

I would also like to know what does the criteria for an Irish person mean when being listed?

MarchDub

p to the e wrote: »

I'm trying to get a nice mix into it across a lot of topics and generations. Somehow I just couldn't find any Irish sports greats. Well none worthy of "The List" anyway.

1. WBYeats - Nobel prize laureate and pioneer of literature and theatre in Ireland

I love Yeats - he wrote some of the finest poetry in the English language BUT he certainly didn't 'pioneer' Irish literature - and Irish theatre goes back for hundreds of years before Yeats.

Irish theatre didn't all begin with the Abbey and Yeats and Lady Gregory if that is what you mean? There was a thriving theatre culture in Ireland long before their contributions. Ever hear of the Smock Alley Threatre? The original foundation stone was laid in 1662 and it claims to be the first post-Restoration theatre in Britain or Ireland.

http://www.mglarc.com/index.php/dublin-based/223-smock-alley-theatre.html

p to the e

MarchDub wrote: »

I love Yeats - he wrote some of the finest poetry in the English language BUT he certainly didn't 'pioneer' Irish literature - and Irish theatre goes back for hundreds of years before Yeats.

Irish theatre didn't all begin with the Abbey and Yeats and Lady Gregory if that is what you mean? There was a thriving theatre culture in Ireland long before their contributions. Ever hear of the Smock Alley Threatre? The original foundation stone was laid in 1662 and it claims to be the first post-Restoration theatre in Britain or Ireland.

http://www.mglarc.com/index.php/dublin-based/223-smock-alley-theatre.html

Perhaps "promoter" would be a more suitable word.

onlyrocknroll

p to the e wrote: »

Perhaps "promoter" would be a more suitable word.

I'd say 'revivalist' is the most appropriate.

MarchDub

p to the e wrote: »

Perhaps "promoter" would be a more suitable word.

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

I'd say 'revivalist' is the most appropriate.

Yeah - both terms apply but they don't mark him out as unique either. James Joyce thought the 'Celtic Revival' for the birds and a hoax - and his contribution could be argued to be as great, or greater in 'promoting' world recognition of Irish literature.

But it's all just opinion anyway - I don't mean to shoot down Yeats, just place him in context. I really love his poetry. He was extraordinary.

MarchDub

p to the e wrote: »

Perhaps "promoter" would be a more suitable word.

Just to add - if we take Yeats out of the literary context and place him within his possible influences of Irish politics of his day, that would give him a pretty powerful standing.

When he received the Nobel Prize he said in his speech to the Academy that the foundation of the work he was doing was to influence the march to Irish independence - I can't remember his exact words so I am paraphrasing here.

Manach

Edmund Burke : Founder of modern conservatism.

Denerick

Manach wrote: »

Edmund Burke : Founder of modern conservatism.

William Buckley is responsible for this distortion. Clearly Burke's political opinions, based on moderation, gradual reform and an adversion to mob or revolutionary violence mark him as conservative or at least conservative minded. On a whole raft of domestic issues however, such as the treatment of natives throughout the Empire, slavery, the penal laws etc. he was decidedly on the left of British politics.

ValJester

Manach wrote: »

Edmund Burke : Founder of modern conservatism.

Libertarianism might be a better word given what his influence on 19th-Century politics proved to be.

rcs

for an alternative to political figures..........

Ernest Shackleton
&
Tom Crean

Rebelheart

who the fug wrote: »

Che
Wasn't he one the Lynchs from Cork

Cnoc an Línsigh in Meath, originally, via Galway where the same Norman family of Lynch (de Lench) settled in the 1300s becoming one of the so-called 'tribes' of that city. (I believe the Cork Lynch family is Ó Líonsigh; the Connacht variant of this has often been anglicised Lynskey, particularly in Mayo)

Lynchs' Knock (Cnoc an Línsigh), as it was known in the 1640s in English, was the scene of one of the more notable battles in 17th-century Ireland.

Here's a well-known article on Ché's Galway connection.

Feck it; all the above sounds fierce familiar to me.;)

Snickers Man

wolfpawnat wrote: »

I do love O'Connells reply!

DoW "Just because One is born in a stable, does not make One a horse"

DoC "No, but it may make you an a$$!"

Haha we Irish are too quick with our wit!:D

Source for that?

It is a widely held misconception that the Duke of Wellington denied his Irishness by pointing out that being born in a stable did not make one a horse.

In fact, this was not said BY the Duke of Wellington; it was said ABOUT him. By Daniel O'Connell.

It's in the transcript of a trial in which O'Connell was the defendant.

MarchDub

Thanks Snickers Man - you have to be credited with giving us all that reference over a year ago. But the misquote - or incorrect attribution - keeps coming up so I searched out your original post on that topic and here it is.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62466301&postcount=1

Balmed Out

as domestic military people go i reckon tom barry tops. it was his group that dragged us through the war of independence with successful actions whenever it was going badly in the country as a whole.

another who comes to mind and i ont think has been mentioned is ernest shakleton

CDfm

I have been toying with the idea of John Jinks

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056064820

micktrim

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Robert Boyle - Chemistry

Definitely agree with Robert Boyle would have liked to see him or Lemass/T.K Whitaker on it as well

Countess Markiewicz would be another person that I think should be on a top 10 Irish people list

CDfm

Michael O'Leary VC from Ballingeary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_John_O%27Leary

And who was your man from the North that set up the SAS in WWII

velopeloton

Snickers Man wrote: »

Source for that?

It is a widely held misconception that the Duke of Wellington denied his Irishness by pointing out that being born in a stable did not make one a horse.

In fact, this was not said BY the Duke of Wellington; it was said ABOUT him. By Daniel O'Connell.

It's in the transcript of a trial in which O'Connell was the defendant.

Thanks for that, it is something that I have been looking for for a while and can find no reference to the Duke ever denying his Irishness. Here in France where there would be no love for him I have heard him referred to as being Irish more times than I have in Ireland.

in no particular order

Wellington
Michael Collins
James Connolly
Edmund Burke
Robert Boyle
Harry Ferguson
WB Yeats
Saint Columba
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
Rory Gallagher

Also think that there are only 2 great Irish sports people. Sean Kelly & Joey Dunlop.

PatsytheNazi

CDfm wrote: »

Michael O'Leary VC from Ballingeary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_John_O%27Leary

And who was your man from the North that set up the SAS in WWII

Scotsman David Stirling formed the SAS. Your probably thinking of Paddy Mayne from Antrim who was a legend within the SAS in WW2.

CDfm

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Scotsman David Stirling formed the SAS. Your probably thinking of Paddy Mayne from Antrim who was a legend within the SAS in WW2.

Paddy Mayne -thats the guy.

david75

Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan.

Capt'n Midnight

Robert Boyle (1627-1691)

George Boole (1815-1864) did his work here

William Thomson (1824-1907) (Lord Kelvin) first Baron Kelvin (1866)

George Francis Fitzgerald (1851-1901)

Ernest Walton (1903-1997)

Erwin Schrödinger