Ireland's Greatest

Ireland's Greatest was a 2010 public poll by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and associated television documentary series broadcast on RTÉ One, where viewers voted to choose the greatest person in the history of Ireland.[1] The concept was based on the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons.[2] The winner was John Hume.[3]

1. John Hume was leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize and key figure in the Northern Ireland peace process.
2. Michael Collins was a leading political and military figure in the fight for Irish independence.
3. Mary Robinson was the first female President of Ireland and also United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Global Elder.
4. James Connolly was a socialist leader, founder of the Labour Party and leader in the Easter Rising.
5. Bono is the lead singer in rock band U2.
Ireland's Greatest Woman: Nano Nagle founded the Presentation Sisters.
Ireland's Greatest Sportsperson: Pádraig Harrington has won three golf majors.
Ireland's Greatest Scientist: Robert Boyle founded modern chemistry and discovered Boyle's Law.

Format

To draw up an initial shortlist of 40 names, RTÉ commissioned an opinion poll of 1,000 members of the public,[4] carried out by Ipsos MRBI in late 2009.[1][5] The shortlist was published on 22 March 2010 on the RTÉ.ie website,[6] and readers could vote for their preferred person for 12 days, ending on 2 April;[1] one vote per IP address was permitted.[4] The top ten was announced on The Tubridy Show with Myles Dungan on 5 April 2010.[7] The top five was established at this point,[4] but not publicised until RTÉ's programming schedule for autumn 2010 was unveiled in August.[8] Each of the top five was profiled in a one-hour documentary programme broadcast in autumn 2010 and presented by a public figure advocating that person's claim to the title of "greatest person". Viewers voted for the overall winner, announced on The Late Late Show on 22 October 2010.[3][7]

Rankings

Top five

The ranking of the top five, and the advocates who each present a one-hour documentary about one of them, were as follows:[3][9]

PlaceNomineePresenter
1John HumeMiriam O'Callaghan
2Michael CollinsMichael McDowell
3Mary RobinsonDavid McWilliams
4James ConnollyJoe Duffy
5BonoDave Fanning

Top 40

The following people were shortlisted:[1][3][7][8]

RankNameBornDiedField(s)
1John Hume19372020Politics
2Michael Collins18901922Politics
3Mary Robinson1944Politics
4James Connolly18681916Politics
5Bono1960Music, charity
6–10Noël Browne19151997Politics
6–10Stephen Gately19762009Music
6–10Phil Lynott19511986Music
6–10Pádraig Pearse18791916Politics
6–10Adi Roche1955Charity
11–40 Éamon de Valera 18821975Politics
11–40 Joe Dolan 19392007Music
11–40 Ronnie Drew 19342008Music
11–40 Colin Farrell 1976Acting
11–40 Garret FitzGerald 19262011Politics
11–40 Bob Geldof 1951Charity, music
11–40 Pádraig Harrington 1971Sport
11–40 Charles Haughey 19252006Politics
11–40 Séamus Heaney 19392013Literature
11–40 James Joyce 18821941Literature
11–40 John B. Keane19282002Literature
11–40 Roy Keane 1971Sport
11–40 Ronan Keating 1977Music
11–40 Seán Lemass18991971Politics
11–40 Jack Lynch19171999Politics, sport
11–40 Paul McGrath 1959Sport
11–40 Christy Moore 1945Music
11–40 Liam Neeson 1952Acting
11–40 Daniel O'Connell17751847Politics
11–40 Daniel O'Donnell 1961Music
11–40 Brian O'Driscoll 1979Sport
11–40 Michael O'Leary 1961Business
11–40 John O'Shea 1944Charity
11–40 Sonia O'Sullivan 1969Sport
11–40 Charles Stewart Parnell 18461891Politics
11–40 Christy Ring 19201979Sport
11–40 Theobald Wolfe Tone17631798Politics
11–40 Louis Walsh 1952Music manager
11–40 Oscar Wilde 18541900Literature
11–40 William Butler Yeats 18651939Literature

Criticism

The list of nominees for Ireland's Greatest was criticised by historians Diarmuid Ferriter,[10] Tim Pat Coogan, and Maurice Manning,[5] and Irish Times columnist Noel Whelan.[11] They said that the list was skewed towards recent times, and that many nominees were celebrities from popular culture or sport rather than people who had made a lasting contribution to society; Ferriter said "It is going to be very hard to take this seriously for historians".[10][11] Ryan Tubridy, who presents The Late Late Show, commented, "There are some really silly names in there. It's contentious to say the least".[4] Liam Dolan in the Sunday Independent called it "a shambolic litany of well-intentioned do-gooders and talented non-entities".[12] People whose inclusion attracted criticism included Stephen Gately, Louis Walsh and Daniel O'Donnell.[2] The Belfast Telegraph noted the absence of Van Morrison and George Best;[2] other absentees noted were Michael Davitt, John McCormack,[5] William Rowan Hamilton, Lady Gregory, and Samuel Beckett.[12] Ken Sweeney in the Irish Independent criticised the ranking of Stephen Gately ahead of Éamon de Valera.[4] The dearth of women —3 out of 40— was also noted.[2][4][7] Website science.ie responded to the lack of scientists on the RTÉ shortlist by organising its own poll for Ireland's greatest scientist, won by Robert Boyle.[13]

Ireland's Greatest Women

In 2005, Marian Finucane's radio show organised a similar poll to find Ireland's greatest woman. There were some claims of ballot-stuffing.[10] The top ten were:[14]

  1. Nano Nagle, (1718-1784) founder of the Presentation Sisters
  2. Mary Robinson, (1944-) President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  3. Michelle Smith, (1969-) winner of three gold medals and a bronze medal in swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics
  4. Saint Brigid, (451–525) 4th/5th century abbess and one of Ireland's patron saints (many modern historians believe Brigid to be fictional)
  5. Gráinne Ní Mháille, (c.1530–c.1603) Galway pirate
  6. Christina Noble, (1944-) founder of the Christina Noble Children's Foundation
  7. Edel Quinn, (1907-1944) Catholic missionary
  8. Sophia McColgan, child abuse survivor
  9. Kathleen Lynn, (1874-1955) suffragette, Sinn Féin TD and Easter Rising participant
  10. Nora Herlihy, (1910–1988) co-founder of the Irish League of Credit Unions[15]

Ireland's Greatest Sportsperson

In September 2009, RTÉ ran an online poll in sponsored by Paddy Power to nominate Ireland's greatest sportsperson.[16] A shortlist of 32 names was selected by a panel of experts.[17] The top ten was announced on 31 December 2009:[18]

  1. Pádraig Harrington (1971-) (golf)
  2. Brian O'Driscoll (1979-) (rugby union)
  3. Joey Dunlop (1952-2000) (motorcycling)
  4. George Best (1946-2005) (soccer)
  5. Roy Keane (1971-) (soccer)
  6. Sean Kelly (1956-) (cycling)
  7. Sonia O'Sullivan (1969-) (athletics)
  8. Christy Ring (1920-1979) (hurling and Gaelic football)
  9. Vincent O'Brien (1917-2009) (horse racing)
  10. Paul McGrath (1959-) (soccer)

The other 22 were:[17] D. J. Carey, Eamonn Coghlan, Ronnie Delany, Ken Doherty, Mike Gibson, Johnny Giles, Kevin Heffernan, Alex Higgins, Jack Kyle, Eddie Macken, Tony McCoy, Barry McGuigan, Aidan O'Brien, Mick O'Connell, Christy O'Connor Snr, Mick O'Dwyer, Jack O'Shea, Mary Peters, Stephen Roche, Henry Shefflin, Michelle Smith, and John Treacy.

Ireland's Greatest Scientist

In 2010, the website www.sfi.ie selected its Top 10 Irish scientists, in response to the exclusion of scientists from the RTÉ longlist.

  1. Robert Boyle, (1627-1691) founder of modern chemistry and discover of Boyle's law
  2. William Rowan Hamilton, (1805-1865) mathematician who developed Hamiltonian mechanics and discovered quaternions
  3. Ernest Walton, (1903-1995) physicist who "split the atom"; at the time of broadcast, the only Irish Nobel laureate in a science (Physics, 1951)
  4. Kathleen Lonsdale, (1903-1971) X-ray crystallographer who discovered the molecular structure of benzene and diamonds
  5. Dorothy Price, (1890-1954) introduced the BCG tuberculosis vaccine to Ireland
  6. John Tyndall, (1820-1893) physicist who studied radiant energy in air
  7. Harry Ferguson, (1884-1960) inventor of the modern tractor
  8. George Gabriel Stokes, (1819-1903) physicist who worked in fluid dynamics, optics and mathematical physics; also discovered Stokes' theorem
  9. Fr Nicholas Callan, (1799-1864) who invented the modern induction coil
  10. Charles Algernon Parsons, (1854-1931) inventor of the steam turbine
  11. William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (1824-1907) who formulated the first and second Laws of Thermodynamics

Other editions

Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs

References
  1. "RTÉ launches Ireland's Greatest Figures". RTÉ. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  2. "Ireland's 'greatest' list misses out on the Best". The Belfast Telegraph. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  3. "Hume wins 'Ireland's greatest' award". The Irish Times. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  4. Ken Sweeney (6 April 2010). "Dev out but Gately joins the top 10 Irish greats". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  5. Murray, Ken (7 August 2010). "Historians unimpressed by RTÉ 'greatest' shortlist". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  6. "Irelands Greatest". RTÉ.ie. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  7. "Ireland's Greatest Final Top 10 is Announced" (Press release). RTÉ.ie. 5 April 2010. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  8. McGreevy, Ronan (5 August 2010). "RTÉ unveils autumn schedule". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  9. "The new season 2010/2011" (PDF). RTÉ. August 2010. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  10. Bray, Jennifer (4 April 2010). "Ferriter slams RTÉ over 'Ireland's Greatest' top 10". Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  11. Whelan, Noel (1 May 2010). "Fictional Keano has a point about 'Ireland's Greatest'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  12. Collins, Liam (11 April 2010). "Rockers 'n' rebels – is this the best we can do?". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  13. "Robert Boyle – Greatest Irish Scientist poll". Science.ie. 12 April 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  14. Ring, Evelyn. "Nano Nagle voted Ireland's greatest woman" Archived 27 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Irish Examiner. 25 June 2005.
  15. "Fifty Years Serving Communities in Ireland 1958 – 2008". Irish League of Credit Unions. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  16. "Sport today on RTÉ.ie". RTÉ.ie. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010. Voting closes Sunday on our poll to find your choice as Ireland's Greatest Sportsperson
  17. "The Greatest Irish Sportsperson Ever!". RTÉ.ie. Archived from the original on 31 December 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  18. "Kelly makes top ten of Irish sporting greats". Waterford News & Star. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
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