Introduction

Peter Costello's

THE IRISH 100

A RANKING OF THE MOST

INFLUENTIAL IRISH

MEN AND WOMEN OF ALL TIME

Digital electronic transcription by John O’Loughlin

________________

INTRODUCTION

Ireland is a small island, with a small population. Yet over the centuries she has exerted an influence in the wider world out of all proportion both to her size and her resources.

This is partly through those Irish people who have lived and worked in Ireland itself, but also through those others, representative of a diaspora of many millions, who have immigrated to Britain, Europe, Australia, and Canada, but most especially to the United States of America. More Irish people live in the United States than anywhere else in the world (including Ireland), and a great many have an intense involvement with the history and culture of their ancestral home, which has moulded their lives as Americans.

In the summer of 1998, a survey of national pride by the University of Chicago showed that the Irish led the world in their admiration of specific achievements by their countrymen in such areas as the arts, history, the armed forces, the economy, and sports. Americans came in second.

The survey also showed that many young people had less overall pride than their elders. This was thought to reflect the growth of globalism and multilateralism, or perhaps a reaction to the nationalistic extremism of the past. But it may be that the younger generation has simply never heard of the great achievers of the past, whose influence has done so much to shape the world they live in. The Irish and the Irish Americans, as communities, have kept alive that pride, and it is reflected in this book.

The influence of the Irish can be said to be universal, and the contribution of the Irish-born to the development of the modern world has been an important one. Influence, of course, is not a matter of mere fame. The passing notoriety of a celebrity such as a film star (of which there have been many from Ireland) is not the same as the influence exerted by a great patriot, artist, writer, or humanitarian. To be truly influential, the contribution of any of our Irish 100 must be a lasting one.

Yet the persons I have chosen presented a problem. Inevitably, there has to be great difficulty in choosing individuals from such an array of talented people. I may seem to have been somewhat arbitrary in my choices. Personal preference has been restrained, however, in order to collect together as wide and as historic a range of cultural heroes as possible.

Some of the persons included here will be familiar, others almost unknown. In any selection based on a specific ethnic group, as this book is, it has been especially important to choose individuals with no regard to gender or sexuality. Likewise, it is too easy to lead with those who have been public figures in politics over those whose achievements and influence have been in the arts, sciences, or religion.

Influence works in strange ways. Though our newspapers make us aware of the influence which public figures such as politicians or millionaires think they wield in the world, our everyday lives are actually more affected by the activities of scientists, inventors, and trade unionists. We have to be careful not to take people at their own estimation.

These days, many people have a great interest in tracing their roots. Irish-American politicians are always keen to recall their roots. In the summer of 1998, for instance, no less a person than Newt Gingrich was in Ireland, and after his talks with the various communities in the Ulster conflict, one of his purposes was to search out his family connections in Donegal. Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill, one of his predecessors in the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives, was an old-style Irish American, but who would have thought Newt Gingrich was too! History is full of surprises, as we shall see.

Perhaps a note on the historical background of Ireland and the Irish may be of use to some readers using this book as a reference tool.

The history of Ireland and of the various peoples who have inhabited the island is a long and complex one. It is also very controversial. The earliest evidence for man in Ireland dates from about 6500 B.C., at Mount Sandel near Coleraine, in Northern Ireland. These people are the original Irish, and would have been followed in time by Neolithic and Bronze Age people. These peoples are the architects of Newgrange, and the dolmens and tombs scattered throughout the country. But they left no written records of their culture or history. We have to appreciate their achievement through the discoveries of archaeologists.

The first evidence of Celtic culture in Ireland is about 300 B.C. These invaders wiped out the original language of the island, and imposed their own Gaelic language on the Irish natives. This race would have intermarried with the earlier inhabitants to begin the process of producing the Irish of today. Other waves of invaders followed: Romans in the first centuries, Christian missionaries in fifth, the Vikings in the eighth. Then the Normans in the twelfth, followed by English and eventually Scottish settlers (themselves the descendants of the Gaels who had colonized parts of Scotland).

Irish history is not a simple tale of heroic Celtic warriors fighting to the death and brave Celtic women being raped by vicious Englishmen, the caricature that so often passes for history. Much that is admired, and rightly admired in the history and culture of the island, is non-Celtic. Ireland has also shared the political and religious fortunes of Europe to the full. Every wave of European culture has in the end washed over Ireland.

Many details of Irish history are alluded to in the course of this book, but in such a limited space it is difficult to enlarge upon them. It is hoped that those using this book will also consult the books of historical background listed in 'Further Reading'. Controversies over many details in the course of Irish history continue, as do disputes about exactly what it is to be Irish, and indeed who the Irish really are.

Though many Irish people today are Roman Catholic, it is not the special destiny of the Irish to be Catholic. The Protestant culture of Ireland, Anglican and Presbyterian, is a strong one, and the inhabitants of the island achieved great things when they were pagans, and may well do so again now that Ireland, like the rest of Europe, has passed into a post-Christian phase of history.

These days an Irish person is someone who was born in Ireland, has made a permanent home in Ireland, or who is attached to Irish culture in some way, even though he lives in another country. All these kinds of Irish people are represented in this book. They are people who have been capable of great fortitude, great passion, and great charity. They are also people who have been capable of great evil. They must be taken as you find them.

This book would fail to present a complete view of the influence of the Irish if it were necessary for inclusion that a person must have been born or worked in Ireland, or had Ireland as the main focus of their life. Thus, many emigrants to other countries would have to be excluded. So this book includes Irish people famous in the wider world, such as John F. Kennedy, Ned Kelly, and Bernardo O'Higgins.

At the conclusion of a long process, I am struck not only by the achievements of those who are included here, but even more by the achievements of those for whom there was no space.

It can safely be predicted that the influence which the Irish have had in the past will be as nothing compared to what they will achieve tomorrow, both in Europe, in America, and elsewhere.

It is a matter of controversy whether one of Columbus' crew when the New World was discovered was an Irishman from Galway. But certainly when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in July 1969, that first step on another planet was made by a man of Irish descent. Armstrong's ancestors hailed from Fermanagh in Ulster, and those of James Irwin, the first man to drive on the moon, came from Pomeroy, also in Ulster.

It is only too likely that the first person to land on Mars will also be of Irish blood.

Peter Costello

Dublin, 2000