SEE PHOTOS - The top ten Irish people of all time
An Irish magazine just came out with a list of the top ten Gaels of all time. We know it’s hard to include all the right people in a list, but we were surprised to see this one had not a single woman.
Ever since Queen Maeve took up arms against her husband, Conor, because he had a bull that she wanted, Ireland has been known for its strong women. Female activists and artists have long had a role in Ireland’s culture.
What women would you include in a list of great Irish Gaels?
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We thought about about former president Mary Robinson, who was high commissioner at the UN and continues to work to promote human rights. And Samantha Powers, a journalist, public policy professor and former advisor to Obama. And Veronica Guerin, a reporter dogged in her pursuit of Dublin criminals until they gunned her down in 1996.
What about Sinead O’Connor for her musical talent and controversial public gestures? (Ok, we’re not going to include her in the top 10 – but she’d make it into a top 50 list, for sure).
We’d also like to include Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for their work in Belfast. Going back in time a little, there’s Maud Gonne, Yeats’ muse and an actress and feminist in her own right, and Countess Markievicz, who wore pants and carried a gun in the 1916 rising.
Here’s IrishCentral’s list, a mix of influential male and female Gaels. We probably haven’t got everyone, and there are more we’d like to add.
1. William Butler Yeats
2. Mary Robinson
3. Veronica Guerin
4. Samuel Beckett
5. James Joyce
6. Michael Collins
7. Eamon De Valera
8. Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams (joint)
9. Samantha Powers
10. Heck, why not Queen Maeve!
Who do you think is worthy of a place in the top ten?
32 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Brolaur | Aug 30, 2011, 02:16 PM EDT
"Klotz" speaks or itself.
sirpeter | Aug 30, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT
JamesDempsey!! You beat me to it.I would leave out de Valera as well.He did cause the civil war and his big argument was taking the "Oath of Allegience to the crown"Oaths were a big deal in those days.Then later he took the oath himself to get into government.That's a big minus towards Dev in my opinion.
JamesDempsey | Aug 30, 2011, 04:35 AM EDT
@ Searlit Once again I would like to say that de Valera was a power hungry sneak who defied the democratic will of the people and caused a civil war which still divides the country to some degree even today!
JohnJoe4444 | Aug 30, 2011, 04:28 AM EDT
Usual standard of top 10 isms. Daniel O Connell, Eamon DeValera, John Redmond, Wolfe Tone, Charles Parnell, Padraig Pearse, Admiral John Barry, Archbishop Mannix... There are countless thousands of Irish men and women who toiled all their lives for the country but did so without seeking fame or fortune.
tullow1955 | Aug 29, 2011, 11:31 PM EDT
Well I am with Brian Boru, Daniel O Connell....etc. but what about Garrett Fitzgerald.....
Searlit | Aug 29, 2011, 07:46 PM EDT
I would choose Brian Boru, Art MacMurragh, Red Hugh O'Neil, Grace O'Malley, Daniel O'Connell, James Connelly, Michael Collins, Bobby Sands, Gerry Adams, & Eamon DeValera (someone had to take a stand, even if he turned the government into cronies). I could add a priest, Father John Murphy. There were many great Irishmen and women who gave their all for Ireland, too many to name, sadly.
Liamkeyes | Aug 29, 2011, 07:45 PM EDT
I really didnt expect to make it this time but definitely next time.
Rebelforce | Aug 29, 2011, 06:40 PM EDT
Mary Robinson on the list but not Daniel "The Liberator" O'Connell? Samantha Powers, but not King Brian Boru? Veronica Guerin, but not Rosemary Nelson? Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland left off the list entirely. So much for this list.
seanomelbourne | Aug 29, 2011, 06:29 PM EDT
Klotz by name and Klotz by nature Frieda has no concept of Ireland or it,s history the above list is borne out of ignorance. Maguire and Williams allowed themselves to become a tool of the British propoganda machine I remember their disgraceful visit to Melbourne,BTW their contact address's in Australia were the British diplomatic missions.
JamesDempsey | Aug 29, 2011, 06:26 PM EDT
Sirpeter, agreed for both comments
sirpeter | Aug 29, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT
Sinead O’Connor for her musical talent?? She has a good singing voice that's it.Ireland doesn't have any shortage of vocal talent.I could list 300 Irish artists who would leave her standing when it comes to musical talent
sirpeter | Aug 29, 2011, 05:46 PM EDT
I'd have General Tom Barry on that list.Without him there would never have been a truce which lead to independence.He defeated a British force of 1500 men to Barrys 300 at Crossbarry.He would never ask a soldier to do anything that he wouldn't do himself.The man was a tactical genius.
cillowen | Aug 29, 2011, 05:02 PM EDT
Niall of the Nine Hostages has to be numero uno. Without his taking of Patrick as slave what else is more noteworthy than that. The others are johnny come lately - mostly Anglos.
JamesDempsey | Aug 29, 2011, 03:51 PM EDT
Literary genius, author of 'Ulysses' and 'Waiting for Godot' James Joyce Waiting for Godot was samuel beckett! Very very sloppy work indeed Miss Klotz.
JamesDempsey | Aug 29, 2011, 03:17 PM EDT
What a joke! Veronica Guerin ! Eamon de Valera ! and Samantha "who" Power! What a silly list mixed in with a few good ones. Not to take away from Veronica Guerin's brave nature, but she has no place on the list of greatest ever Irish people. de Valera ! where to begin ? fair enough he was cunning enough to see the chance to declare a republic and seperate from the UK but this man went against the democratic will of the people of Ireland and caused a civil all for the sake of him gaining power, using the excuse of the conditions of the free state, a state which he was happily in charge of for many years to come after. how in the hell can u put him on this list? politics in Ireland are still divided by civil war politics because of him
adrienrain | Aug 29, 2011, 02:42 PM EDT
OH! And James Connolly & Padraig Pearse.
adrienrain | Aug 29, 2011, 02:40 PM EDT
Maude Gonne and the Countess Markievicz.
slainte9 | Aug 29, 2011, 02:28 PM EDT
Daniel O'Connell, The Liberator who inspired Ghandi and Frederick Douglas, is number one, followed by the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Maybe Edmund Burke the great political philosopher should be number two. What's the matter with you people?!! Leaving O'Connell out is like leaving Martin Luther King off the list of the top 10 African Americans of all time.
AengusOg | Aug 29, 2011, 01:14 PM EDT
@Frieda Klotz - Sloppy work here. My previous post, pointing out that the goof in the caption was not a typo has yet to appear. Censorship from such an advocate of free speech as IC?
turzovka | Aug 29, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT
Must you be born in Ireland to qualify, or could you be of Irish descent? If it is the latter, then I vote for Jim Morrison of the Doors --- a brilliant artist and legendary voice.
BrendanDunphy | Aug 29, 2011, 10:51 AM EDT
Bobby Sands, James Connolly, Theobald Wolfe Tone, St. Patrick himself, Brendan Behan, Brian Boru, Gerry Adams, Brendan Dunphy (that is me, I just wanted to see if you are paying attention) ...
pat52rk | Aug 29, 2011, 10:47 AM EDT
no father of the republic Wolfe Tone ,
MichaelMcGrath | Aug 29, 2011, 10:27 AM EDT
Patrick Pearse? James Connolly? Naw, hardly...
MichaelMcGrath | Aug 29, 2011, 10:10 AM EDT
The latest historical research indicates that Countess Markievicz broke down, lost her head and grovelled for mercy at her Courts Martial in 1916. I think that this rather substantial allegation would hav to be cleaned up first.
MichaelMcGrath | Aug 29, 2011, 10:07 AM EDT
@Kinvara 7 : Bono took all his money out of Ireland , is a tax exile , and is despised here in Ireland! He sued that poor woman he fired too over the return of a hat , but the truth is that she turned the advances of His Ugliness down:-)
donal1951 | Aug 29, 2011, 10:04 AM EDT
The list is much too 19th and 20th century, other than the perhaps mythical Queen Maeve, after whom I named by female dog. Where is Theobald Wolfe Tone? Where is Henry Joy McCracken? and indeed, kicking into the 20th centure, where are Pearse and Connolly?
barbaranne | Aug 29, 2011, 10:03 AM EDT
Please correct the caption on the picture - James Joyce, genius that he was, did NOT write "Waiting for Godot." That was Samuel Beckett.
MichaelMcGrath | Aug 29, 2011, 10:02 AM EDT
Mary Robinson was probably the worst ever Irish President, Mary McAleese too - she presided over the Irish economic collapse without a murmur whereas she should have resigned in protest against all the corruption that was going on. Samantha Powers is relatively unknown in Ireland and did not achieve anything for Ireland. You mention Cyanide O'Connor - she's nuts , John Waters had to flee as her husband, she also made a public statement at a pro-abortion meeting outside the GPO boasting that she had had two abortions and wanted more, then went and became a priest:-)Maud Gonne is hardly going to be selected because she was lovely looking, if so Mary McAleese deserves number one spot, but Mary Robinson was a President who did nothing for Ireland that I can remember- and the UN is a big problem to Ireland , in fact our biggest problem, in its definition of "asylum seekers". In fact the only genuine "asylum seeker" of them all would be Gadaffi , if he turned up here ! And there's a lot of sympathy for him too in Ireland because he stood with Ireland and the Irish against Thatcher and the UK and supported a United Ireland too.
pounder | Aug 29, 2011, 09:54 AM EDT
What no Obama........
SeamusMor | Aug 29, 2011, 09:51 AM EDT
Brian Boru is at the top of the list. In uniting the warring tribes of the Irish, he created a nation. He was the first and only to do so, something the failed Irish Republic has not done.
finucath | Aug 29, 2011, 09:45 AM EDT
Beckett must be rolling in his grave at the caption suggestion that Joyce wrote Waiting for Godot!
kinvara7 | Aug 29, 2011, 08:50 AM EDT
It appears that the list of the top ten Irish people ‘of all time’ only manages to cover a little over one hundred years. Where is Brian Boru, Hugh O’Neill and Daniel O’Connell? Where is Johannes Scotus Eriugena, the greatest European philosopher of the early middle ages? What about Robert Boyle the father of modern Chemistry? What of Saint Columbanus, whose monasteries did so much to preserve classical learning throughout Europe. Or Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews during WWII. How is it that not a single musician makes it into the list? What of the great harpist Turlough O'Carolan or the Irish composer John field who created the piano nocturne (later made famous by Chopin) or indeed Enya and Bono! Indeed, as usual the list is full of writers, statesmen and in some cases people who could be called flavour of the month.