Irelands greatest : is that all we can produce?

Japer

I saw the list of Irelands greatest - so called greatest - 40 people. We all know from tv that Michael Collins, Mary Robinson, James Connolly, John Hume and last but not least Bono made it in to the final 5. Only one person from the world of business scraped it in to the top 40. Nobody from industry or science. We call ourselves an educated people and the IDA would try to promote the idea we are good with technology, and a good base for business. Why do we produce better people in those fields, or acknowledge those who are world class in business or science ? In science we have Walton, a noble prize winner in science, Boyle of Boyles law fame, + many more. In industry Henry Ford was born in Cork, Ferguson ( tractors ) + Dunlop (tyres) were from the north. In business we have Arthur Guinness. Not to forget the man who grew Ryanair from humble beginnings to be the largest airline in the world, against very stiff competition. A man who pays his taxes in Ireland ( and does not choose to pay some in Holland, like one of the 5 above ). A man who employs many thousands and who reduced the cost of air travel in Europe dramatically. Who has not beneffited from having cheap flights, directly or indirectly ? Remember paying over 200 pounds 30 years ago to get to England with the heavily unionised Air Lingus ? Nobody can claim he was a terrorist, an agitator, or someone who wiped billions off the world banks / encouraged defaulting ( which has affected us all, like it or not, directly or indirectly ). If we were a great country, should we not have had one great business person, engineer or scientist on the list of 5, or are we really that bad ? We need a few of those type of people ( world class business people, engineers and scientists ) surely to lead us out of the mess we are in ?

Mr Benevolent

It's a populist Top 5, not a concrete one. None of those people were important to Ireland. A self-publicising singer, an ex-president who did everything for the world and nothing for us, a politician who's not even Irish, a terrorist and a socialist, the most useless of all things.

Sanjuro

It's not a true representation of Ireland's greatest. But look at the audience that RTE are pandering to, and it makes total sense. For fuck sake, Bono made it into the final list and Joyce, Wilde, Beckett, and countless others didn't. Lowest common denominator stuff.

liah

Probably has more to do with the fact that you've a tiny population and you're competing against countries with populations in the tens or hundreds of millions.

In countries with bigger populations they're more likely to produce more "quality" due to sheer numbers.

Note: I didn't read all of the OP, wall of text does not compute.

djfattony2000

Stop giving out about other people and become a world class scientist yourself.

baztard

Confab wrote: »

It's a populist Top 5, not a concrete one. None of those people were important to Ireland. A self-publicising singer, an ex-president who did everything for the world and nothing for us, a politician who's not even Irish, a terrorist and a socialist, the most useless of all things.

Your an idiot if you think none of those people done anything for Ireland.

kfallon

Confab wrote: »

a terrorist and a socialist

:rolleyes:

the purple tin

I don't like these types of "best of" vote polls where you have to pick from a list.
Why not let people name their favourite irish person and then tot up the totals?

Pherekydes

Confab wrote: »

... a terrorist...

Steady on there. Bono is no terrorist!

CrazyRabbit

List is a fail. Boards.ie creators are not on it.

Pherekydes

the purple tin wrote: »

I don't like these types of "best of" vote polls where you have to pick from a list.
Why not let people name their favourite irish person and then tot up the totals?

How would you stop all the 14 year-olds voting for Jedward?

RMD

People are going to vote for the names they know. Most people wouldn't have a clue who Boyle his, let alone his contributions to the Chemical world.

It's the 5 most well known names who have benefited Ireland or put Ireland on a larger scale in the world. Shame to think that plank Bono got in there, I'm not a fan of the rest but I'm not going to complain either, they certainly did help Ireland.

Herb Powell

shut uppppppppp

Dades

baztard wrote: »

Your an idiot

LOL

AnonoBoy

Yes it is all we can produce.

aDeener

Confab wrote: »

It's a populist Top 5, not a concrete one. None of those people were important to Ireland. A self-publicising singer, an ex-president who did everything for the world and nothing for us, a politician who's not even Irish, a terrorist and a socialist, the most useless of all things.

oohh yumm mmmm delicious trollage right there

ScumLord

The thing about nominating business people is they often have to be ruthless to achieve their success. Many may have made enemies or done things that you wouldn't consider all that great.

Inventors don't get enough credit as they really do change our lifes with technology but these days even inventors are just employees in a large company that are part of a team so it's harder to single one person out.

These lists are just media lists and aren't really based on anything other than personal opinion of the time.

listermint

Confab wrote: »

It's a populist Top 5, not a concrete one. None of those people were important to Ireland. A self-publicising singer, an ex-president who did everything for the world and nothing for us, a politician who's not even Irish, a terrorist and a socialist, the most useless of all things.

Terribly clueless post and all who thanked it... terribly. For shame

rossie1977

i agree that some should not be on the list but if this question was asked of americans do you think many would put bill gates or the wright brothers ahead of george washington, of course not and neither should tony ryan be ahead of michael collins

btw here is the list of greatest americans, they have george w bush at number 6 :eek:

Celly Smunt

rossie1977 wrote: »

i agree that some should not be on the list but if this question was asked of americans do you think many would put bill gates or the wright brothers ahead of george washington, of course not and neither should tony ryan be ahead of michael collins

btw here is the list of greatest americans, they have george w bush at number 6 :eek:

ronald reagan the best american ever? really?

rossie1977

pmcmahon wrote: »

ronald reagan the best american ever? really?

some (alot if truth be told) americans believe the fall of communism in russia and eastern europe is single-handedly down to regan

Celly Smunt

rossie1977 wrote: »

some (alot if truth be told) americans believe the fall of communism in russia and eastern europe is single-handedly down to regan

America-The land of dreams :rolleyes:

Joliegood

Japer wrote: »

I saw the list of Irelands greatest - so called greatest - 40 people. We all know from tv that Michael Collins, Mary Robinson, James Connolly, John Hume and last but not least Bono made it in to the final 5. Only one person from the world of business scraped it in to the top 40. Nobody from industry or science. We call ourselves an educated people and the IDA would try to promote the idea we are good with technology, and a good base for business. Why do we produce better people in those fields, or acknowledge those who are world class in business or science ? In science we have Walton, a noble prize winner in science, Boyle of Boyles law fame, + many more. In industry Henry Ford was born in Cork, Ferguson ( tractors ) + Dunlop (tyres) were from the north. In business we have Arthur Guinness. Not to forget the man who grew Ryanair from humble beginnings to be the largest airline in the world, against very stiff competition. A man who pays his taxes in Ireland ( and does not choose to pay some in Holland, like one of the 5 above ). A man who employs many thousands and who reduced the cost of air travel in Europe dramatically. Who has not beneffited from having cheap flights, directly or indirectly ? Remember paying over 200 pounds 30 years ago to get to England with the heavily unionised Air Lingus ? Nobody can claim he was a terrorist, an agitator, or someone who wiped billions off the world banks / encouraged defaulting ( which has affected us all, like it or not, directly or indirectly ). If we were a great country, should we not have had one great business person, engineer or scientist on the list of 5, or are we really that bad ? We need a few of those type of people ( world class business people, engineers and scientists ) surely to lead us out of the mess we are in ?

You left out Brendan Kilkenny.

Napper Hawkins

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest American in the history of the United States and he's from ****ing Austria.

Beat that, fags.

Cavehill Red

Confab wrote: »

It's a populist Top 5, not a concrete one. None of those people were important to Ireland. A self-publicising singer, an ex-president who did everything for the world and nothing for us, a politician who's not even Irish, a terrorist and a socialist, the most useless of all things.

In what way is John Hume not Irish?
In what way was Michael Collins a terrorist?
And what's so useless about being a socialist?

(You're spot on about Onob and Robinson, by the way.)

Pauleta

Its a pretty poor list. Not one inventor on the list (if we even had any decent inventors)

Cavehill Red wrote: »

And what's so useless about being a socialist?

Everything

Japer

ScumLord wrote: »

The thing about nominating business people is they often have to be ruthless to achieve their success.

Dunno about that. And even if they are ruthless sometimes in some situations does that stop them being great people ? Great business people employ people, create wealth, pay taxes and earn foreign income ; many also donate to charity. Was Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds ruthless, or Richard Branson, or Mr. Honda ?

ScumLord wrote: »

Many may have made enemies or done things that you wouldn't consider all that great.

And you think terrorists ( like someone on that group of 5 ) did not make enemies, or do things many people wouldn't consider all that great ?

ScumLord wrote: »

Inventors don't get enough credit as they really do change our lifes with technology but these days even inventors are just employees in a large company that are part of a team so it's harder to single one person out.

Not always, look at Mr. Dyson for example. If we had him we could claim him. Business, science and technology is the one and only thing - along with guts + hard work - which can lead to Ireland paying its way in the world / getting us out of this mess, but yet our propoganda machine decides to honour someone many if not most people at the time would have considered a terrorist ?

The Waltzing Consumer

Cavehill Red wrote: »

In what way is John Hume not Irish?
In what way was Michael Collins a terrorist?
And what's so useless about being a socialist?

(You're spot on about Onob and Robinson, by the way.)

He is not spot on about Robinson, I think you guys need a history lesson.

Cavehill Red

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

He is not spot on about Robinson, I think you guys need a history lesson.

Anyone who resigned as president to feck off to a job elsewhere cannot possibly be considered the best Irish person in their own living room, never mind ever.
And I speak as someone who voted for her at the time.

Tchaikovsky

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Yes it is all we can produce.

We all gotta do a lot more fvckin' so!