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Ireland's greatest person

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Comments

  • #62
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    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.


  • #63
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    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? :D


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


  • #64
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    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.


  • #65
    ValJester
    Registered Users Posts: 329 ✭✭ValJester


    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.


  • #66
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    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.


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  • #67
    brianthebard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,165 ✭✭✭✭brianthebard


    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.


  • #68
    grenache
    Registered Users Posts: 6,477 ✭✭✭grenache


    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.


  • #69
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    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.


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