Ireland's greatest person

Denerick · 29-09-2010 8:04pm

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

In the introduction they have Red Hugh's speech before his victory the Battle of the Curlews in 1599. Stirring stuff indeed, one of the best speeches in Irish history I've ever read.

Most of these speeches are embellished.

SineadMaria · 30-09-2010 9:18pm

as the title of this thread is Ireland's greatest person
i suggest Countess Markievicz as she played an active role in both the 1916 rising and in post 1916 Ireland

Denerick · 30-09-2010 9:21pm

SineadMaria wrote: »

as the title of this thread is Ireland's greatest person
i suggest Countess Markievicz as she played an active role in both the 1916 rising and in post 1916 Ireland

No offence, but is that solely because she was a woman? I find that patronising if that is the case.

SineadMaria · 30-09-2010 9:38pm

no it is not just because she is a woman, its about what she achieved

brianthebard · 30-09-2010 11:11pm

Denerick wrote: »

No offence, but is that solely because she was a woman? I find that patronising if that is the case.

You'd give out if someone said something similar about your posts. Sinead didn't say 'because she's a woman' so why infer it?

JohnFalstaff · 01-10-2010 4:50am

It is unfortunate that no great Irish writer has made the final shortlist and the list is poorer for their omission. Ireland has been allowed more than its fair share of great writers and for a list such as this to be legitimate Joyce, Yeats and Beckett deserve to be in the running.
Joyce would be my own nomination - the celebration of simple human decency displayed in Ulysses elevates him to a level that merits inclusion in any such list. Beckett also outstrips Bono anyday.
It's not even a case of apples and oranges... more like apples and combustion engines.

R.Dub.Fusilier · 01-10-2010 1:51pm

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

Beckett also outstrips Bono anyday.
It's not even a case of apples and oranges... more like apples and combustion engines.

i have already made an anti-Bono comment on this thread but your comment is on the money. i'm not into yeats or joyce but rather them than bono. i dont know if bono gives any of his own money to all the causes he promotes but he reminds me of the smiley people who stop you in the street and ask you to give X ammount each month to their particular cause or charity, they get paid for this and dont do it for charity. if you ask any of them if they give to the charity themselves they will answer NO. and before anyone asks how i know this i have asked some of them when they stoped me.to me imo this fits in with bonos profile

purplepanda · 01-10-2010 5:52pm

R.Dub.Fusilier wrote: »

i dont know if bono gives any of his own money to all the causes he promotes but he reminds me of the smiley people who stop you in the street and ask you to give X ammount each month to their particular cause or charity, they get paid for this and dont do it for charity. if you ask any of them if they give to the charity themselves they will answer NO. and before anyone asks how i know this i have asked some of them when they stoped me.to me imo this fits in with bonos profile

Doubt if Bono even gives money to charity equal to the tax that he manages avoid paying.

The description above sums him up perfectly, a charity mugger, often known as a "chugger"

Wibbs · 04-10-2010 10:59pm

Well to copy paste paraphrase what I said on the AH thread of the same name;

Columbanus would be the one on my list. Forget the religious angle, look more on his artistic heart(One of the decent poets of his time and defended the bards against censure), his serious intellect, his force of will and that yearning to travel the world and make it better. Christianity hit and on its coattails so did scholarship and a deep love for language and the written word. We were ripe for it. And in its wake we built the greatest period of indigenous learning and culture in our history.

And then we exported it back to Europe. Columbanus traveled all over Europe founding monasteries and seats of learning and ended his days by founding Bobbio in Italy, which became one of the greatest seats of learning in medieval Europe. The seats of learning these Irishmen founded all over Europe went a long way towards raising the so called dark ages up a notch. Without their influence Charlemagne's mini renaissance would likely not have happened. He and his heirs looked to the traveling eriugena for wisdom and scholarship.

That's just scratching the surface of the debt owed to Europe and not just to us. He and his fellows influence made a serious difference to the world after Rome fell. More, he should be the "patron saint" of the Irish abroad*, all from such a tiny nation, who have done much to light up this world. Countless unheralded numbers of his fellow countrymen and women still do the same today. There is scarcely a corner of this earth we are not in, or have had an influence in. I remember an interview with Kate Adie(sp) the BBC reporter who noted that no matter where she went where there was some humanitarian crisis there would be Irish voices already there to be heard soothing those in need and helping rebuild lives. That's something we should be justly proud of.

That's why I give props to Columbanus. He's the best example of his kind. We don't know what he looked like, we don't know how he sounded, no celebrity for him. He leaves us that better thing, an idea, an insane quest for something better and a life well lived.

*He's actually the patron saint of bikers. Hells angel monk. Worth a vote on that alone and I suspect he'd have loved the notion.

Wolfe Tone · 04-10-2010 11:13pm

A rather controversial one perhaps, I personally would hold Bobby Sands and the hunger strikers up as among Ireland's greatest.

Clearly courageous men, who died for their beliefs and cause, plus Bobby had that all important political mandate I hear so much about, as did some of the other strikers. Perhaps more importantly his election signaled the beginnings of a shift towards the ballot box.

Thoughts?

Denerick · 04-10-2010 11:45pm

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

A rather controversial one perhaps, I personally would hold Bobby Sands and the hunger strikers up as among Ireland's greatest.

Clearly courageous men, who died for their beliefs and cause, plus Bobby had that all important political mandate I hear so much about, as did some of the other strikers. Perhaps more importantly his election signaled the beginnings of a shift towards the ballot box.

Thoughts?

You can guess my thoughts on the matter

I'm still gobsmacked that Daniel O'Connell wasn't considered.

Wolfe Tone · 04-10-2010 11:49pm

Denerick wrote: »

You can guess my thoughts on the matter

I'm still gobsmacked that Daniel O'Connell wasn't considered.

Excellent, so you have started the petition already so?

Me too, bit of a retarded list tbh, typical RTE fare.

Denerick · 05-10-2010 12:03am

Collins is definately justified. Connolly just about. Hume... Not so much. Robinson and Bono definately not. Very poor all in all. It makes the entire list lose its relevance.

I'm trying to think of somebody post 1980 who might deserve it and can't think of anyone.

ValJester · 05-10-2010 10:15pm

Denerick wrote: »

You can guess my thoughts on the matter

I'm still gobsmacked that Daniel O'Connell wasn't considered.

Or Michael Davitt or WB Yeats.

Denerick · 05-10-2010 11:12pm

Davitt should have been included ahead of Connolly, he arguably had a greater direct influence over Irish society.

I don't know if Yeats deserves it, but certainly we should have had at least one of the following: Swift, Beckett, Joyce, Wilde, Bernard Shaw...

Horace Plunkett should have been considered also, the co-operative movement probably done more to help the average Irish peasant than any measure from London or Dublin ever could have.

brianthebard · 06-10-2010 1:48am

Plunkett might deserve an honourable mention but he's clearly not Ireland's greatest person, no matter how dodgy that title is. There's no point naming people for the sake of it. Likewise Davitt was very influential but was part of a larger organisation it was not a one man show, and he did not have the same level of individual achievement as far as I know as say Connolly or O'Connell or any of the writers mentioned. individual achievement and drive (for want of a better phrase) should at least be considered when bandying around a title like this one.

grenache · 06-10-2010 3:24am

I think Bob Geldof and Nano Nagle should definitely have been included, as should Michael Davitt. I'm far from a supporter of Sinn Féin but i would not have objected had Bobby Sands been included in the nominations. Sean Lemass is another candidate. Bono's presence there is an insult to the nation to be honest. Typical popularist nonsense from the national broadcaster. Sincerely hope Collins wins it, there is no debating that he is the nation's greatest.

Denerick · 06-10-2010 11:59am

brianthebard wrote: »

Plunkett might deserve an honourable mention but he's clearly not Ireland's greatest person, no matter how dodgy that title is. There's no point naming people for the sake of it. Likewise Davitt was very influential but was part of a larger organisation it was not a one man show, and he did not have the same level of individual achievement as far as I know as say Connolly or O'Connell or any of the writers mentioned. individual achievement and drive (for want of a better phrase) should at least be considered when bandying around a title like this one.

Davitt masterminded the Land War and was influential in bringing fenians like Devoy on board as well as forging the only realistic political coalition with Parnell. Granted, that alliance inevitably led to the demise of agrarian revolutionary dreams, but Davitt was something of a lion walking among sheep. Without him, and a certain Castlebar journalist, I don't see how land reform would have had the momentum it did. I just threw in Plunkett as compared to Bono... well, anyone deserves a shot when the likes of him are included.

Ireland's greatest person

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