Who's the greatest Irish to have ever lived?

Question

Man or woman, any historical era, who do you reckon? If you can, please explain why you think they are great.

Answer 1

Wolfe Tone: although his rebellion failed he defeated British desires to Hang him as a criminal and he founded the modern concept of Irish Nationalism. Before Wolfe Tone the earls and their followers fought for themselves, their candidate for king or religion. After Wolfe Tone showed the way IRISHMEN fought For IRELAND and eventually triumphed over the supposedly invincible British Emprie. Nuff said I think.

Answer 2

Arthur Wesley better known as The Duke of wellington. Defeated Napoleon in Waterloo. Kinda had a role in world history. We Irish tend to do great things when we get of that miserable rock. I am in Spain now and in a lot of cities here there are Calle(street) O'Donnell. He was president of Spain for the court of Isabel II who was queen when Columbus discovered America. Also look at the amount of generals fighting in foreigner armies and statesmen with Irish names in the last few hundred years. We have too many great writers and poets to name. Yeats, Joyce, Stoker, Wilde, etc.... We have a small population and our influence in this world is out of proportion to those numbers. On the other hand we also have some of the biggest idiots in history.

Answer 3

Hmmmm, good question. there are various great persons who've lived, whether i'd truthfully would desire to declare my husband. His dedication to his kin and toddlers far exceeds the different that I even have ever seen. He believes that with the help of giving our toddlers a stable commencing place in coaching, morals, ethics, self-properly worth, humanitarian techniques, and so forth. that he will leave the international a extra robust place. He places value on the asserting "leave each and every thing extra desirable than you discovered it. " and he lives it 24/7. He teaches all who meet him the thank you to be a real man or woman. He believes that with the help of wakeful alternatives in parenting, we are able to alter the international. How smarmy huh? that's how i think regardless of the shown fact that and that i'm grateful to be a ingredient of a few thing so particular....our kin.

Answer 4

That would be a toss-up between Cuchulain and Brian Boru. If I am remembering this right, during the time of William Wallaces' uprising in Scotland, High King Brian Boru vanished from Ireland for several years, reappearing only occasionally and then vanishing again. This is alluded to in the movie Braveheart, as one of Wallaces' generals is a mysterious Irishman who, when referring to Ireland, simply says, "It's MY island." The theory is that Boru liked Wallaces' courage so much he had to see it for himself and stayed on a few years in Scotland fighting the English until the demands of the throne drew him back to Ireland. Now that's a man with 100% solid steel balls.

Clarification: I did remember it wrong (thanks, Aine G!) and Boru lived two centuries before Wallace. At Wallaces' time Ireland was under English domination for the most part, but any hereditary chieftains with claim to the throne could have deliberately exiled themselves to avoid capture - and could have ended up in Scotland with Wallace - and therefore could have commanded the loyalty of the Irish mercenaries bought by England to put down Wallace.

Answer 5

Bernard Shaw 1856-1950 great irish writer and dramatist among his best known plays are Ceasar and Cleopatra one of his famous books was The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism.

Answer 6

Seamus Heaney. People are talking about dead poets so how about a living one. He has produced work that will last much longer than Wilde or Shaw. His translation of Beowulf is a wonderful gift to the English language.

Answer 7

Father Ted. I thought all the Irish were God botherers before I watched this.

Answer 8

That would be my grandmother - five feet tall but raised 5 boys and 5 girls - with a sense of humor no less, lived through the depression, told me stories and played hop scotch with me, strict but kind, worked so hard every day, with good cheer... etc.

Answer 9

Great Irish people are made Saints and there's quite a few of them.

Answer 10

Jimmy Cricket!