It covers

• people who come from the island of Ireland, which includes people from both Irish territories, the Republic of Ireland and the province of Northern Ireland.
• people of Irish descent who identified themselves or involved themselves with Ireland (eg, Eamon de Valera, Princess Grace of Monaco),
• people who chose to adopt an Irish identity or Irish citizenship (eg, Daniel Day-Lewis).

Table of contents

1 Art 1.1 Architecture 1.2 Actors 1.3 Music 1.4 Dance 1.5 Writing 2 Politics 3 Science, Education and Technology 4 Sport 5 Other

Art

• Francis Bacon, painter
• Robert Ballagh, painter, Aosdána
• John Behan, sculptor, Aosdána
• John Coll, sculptor
• Pauline Bewick, Aosdána
• Louis le Brocquy, Saoi of Aosdána, painter
• Dorothy Cross, various media, Aosdána
• Edward Delaney, sculptor, Aosdána
• Evie Hone stained glass
• Gene Lambert, painter, Aosdána
• Sir William Lavery painter
• Daniel Maclise
• Anne Madden, Aosdána
• William Orpen
• Patrick Pye, sculptor, painter and stained glass artist, Aosdána
• Camille Souter, painter, Aosdána
• Imogen Stuart, sculptor, Aosdána
• Jack B Yeats
• Patrick Collins, Saoi of Aosdána
• Tony O'Malley, Saoi of Aosdána

• Eileen Gray
• James Hoban (designer of White House)
• Kevin Roche
• Sam Stephenson

• Pierce Brosnan - Navan-born James Bond Actor
• Sir Michael Gambon
• Gabriel Byrne
• Cyril Cusack (born in South Africa)
• Niamh Cusack
• Sorcha Cusack
• Hilton Edwards - British born co-founder of the Gate Theatre
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Oscar winner, (born in UK, now Irish citizen)
• Colin Farrell
• Barry Fitzgerald - Abbey Theatre actor turned Hollywood star
• Brenda Fricker - Oscar winner
• Richard Harris
• Grace Kelly - Irish American actress who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco
• Joe Lynch - TV actor
• Micheál MacLiammoir - British born co-founder of the Gate Theatre
• Victor McLaglen
• Colm Meaney
• Cillian Murphy
• Liam Neeson
• Maureen O'Hara - actress
• Milo O'Shea
• Maureen O'Sullivan - actress, mother of Mia Farrow
• Peter O'Toole, Oscar-Academy Award winner
• Stephen Rea
• Fiona Shaw
• Patrick Bergin

• Gerald Barry - composer, member of Aosdána
• Derek Bell, harpist
• Enya (real name: Eithne Ní Bhraonáin), singer/songwriter
• Bono (real name: Paul Hewson), lead singer of U2
• Boyzone
• Jerome de Bromhead, member of Aosdána
• The Chieftains, traditional music group
• The Corrs
• Frank Corcoran, member of Aosdána
• Phil Coulter - composer
• The Cranberries
• Dana, Rosemary Scallon,MEP - singer turned politician
• John Field, composer (creator of the nocturne)
• The Fury Brothers and Davy Arthur
• John Buckley, member of Aosdána
• Raymond Deane, member of Aosdána
• Roger Doyle, member of Aosdána
• Eibhlis Farrell, member of Aosdána
• James Galway - musician
• Bob Geldof, songwriter, singerBoomtown Rats, activist
• Hamilton Harty - composer and arranger
• Michael Holohan, member of Aosdána
• Brian Irvine, composer
• Fergus Johnson, member of Aosdána
• Ronan Keating, singer/songwriter
• Luke Kelly, singer
• Brian Kennedy - singer
• John Kinsella, member of Aosdána
• Phil Lynott - Thin Lizzy frontman
• Philip Martin, member of Aosdána
• John Count McCormack - singer
• Christy Moore, singer/songwriter
• Van Morrison, singer/songwriter
• Samantha Mumba - singer
• Turlough O'Carolan, 17th century harpist and composer ("Last of the Bards")
• Sinead O'Connor,Mother Bernadette, singer
• Kevin O'Connell, member of Aosdána
• Daniel O'Donnell, Country and Western singer
• Mary O'Hara, harpist/singer
• Jane O'Leary, member of Aosdána
• Seóirse Bodley, member of Aosdána
• Eric Sweeney, Member of Aosdána
• Westlife
• Ian Wilson, member of Aosdána
• James Wilson, member of Aosdána

• Michael Flatley, dancer
• Bill Whelan - choreographer
• Dame Ninette de Valois, ballet

• George Barrington
• John Banville, novelist
• Samuel Beckett, Saoi
• Brendan Behan, playwright, novelist
• Mary Kusack, the "Nun of Kenmare," patriot and controversialist
• Roddy Doyle, novelist
• Brian Friel, playwright, member of Aosdána
• Oliver Goldsmith - novelist and dramatist
• Seamus Heaney, Saoi of Aosdána
• James Joyce, novelist
• Neil Jordan, author, film director, member of Aosdána
• Patrick Kavanagh,poet
• Francis Ledwidge, poet
• Thomas Moore - poet
• Edna O'Brien - novelist, member of Aosdána
• Sean O'Casey, playwright
• George Bernard Shaw,novelist, playwright,
• Laurence Sterne - novelist
• Bram Stoker (author of Dracula)
• Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, novelist and satirist
• John Millington Synge - dramatist
• Oscar Wilde, novelist, poet, satirist
• William Butler Yeats, poet
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan, playwright
• Martin Mc Donagh, playwright
• Walter Macken, novelist
• Cecil Frances Alexander
• William Allingham, poet
• Brian O'Nolan (aka Myles na Gopaleen, Flann O'Brien), novelist/columnist
• Christy Browne - author of My Left Foot
• Francis Stuart, Saoi of Aosdána
• Sebastian Barry, novelist, member of Aosdána
• Dermot Bolger, novelist, member of Aosdána
• Clare Boylan, Aosdána
• Pearse Hutchinson, Aosdána
• Rita Ann Higgins, poet, member of Aosdána
• Jennifer Johnston, member of Aosdána
• Benedict Kiely, Saoi of Aosdána
• Tom Kilroy, member of Aosdána
• Christopher Nolan, poet, member of Aosdána
• Frank O'Connor, short story writer
• John McGahern, novelist, member of Aosdána
• Seamus Deane, member of Aosdána
• Carlo Gébler, member of Aosdána
• Michael Longley, member of Aosdána
• Frank McGuinness, member of Aosdána
• Richard Murphy,poet, member of Aosdána
• James Plunkett, member of Aosdána
• William Trevor, writer, member of Aosdána
• Lady Gregory, playwright and founder of the Abbey Theatre
• Deirdre Purcell
• Marina Carr, Aosdána
• Ciarán Carson, Aosdána
• Leland Bardwell, Aosdána
• Philip Casey, Aosdána
• Harry Clifton, Aosdána
• Michael Coady, Aosdána
• Dermot Healy, Aosdána
• Aidan Higgins, Aosdána
• Adrian Kenny, Aosdána
• Ulick O'Connor, Aosdána
• Julia Ó Faoláin, Aosdána
• Seán Ó Faoláin, Saoi of Aosdána
• Anthony Cronin, Aosdána
• Margaretta D'Arcy, Aosdána
• Theo Dorgan, Aosdána
• Robert Greacen, Aosdána
• Eamon Delaney
• Oliver St John Gogarty
• Mary Lavin, Saoi of Aosdána
• James Clarence Mangan poet
• Aubrey de Vere poet
• Sir Samuel Ferguson poet
• George Russell, AE

• Eamon de Valera (born in USA) Taoiseach (1932-1948; 1951-54; 1957-1959) President of Ireland (1959-1973)
• Padraic Pearse - poet, teacher and leader of the Easter Rising
• James Connolly - Scottish-born socialist, founder of the Labour Party and Easter Rising participant
• W.T. Cosgrave - President of the Executive Council (prime minister) (1922-1932)
• Mary Harney, deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste) & leader of the Progressive Democrats
• Desmond O'Malley - founder and first leader of the Progressive Democrats
• Tim Healy - politician and Governor-General of the Irish Free State (1922-28)
• Domhnall Ua Buachalla Fianna Fáil TD turned Governor-General (1932-36/7)
• Douglas Hyde - founder of the Gaelic League, President of Ireland (1938-1945)
• Patrick Hillery - Irish EEC Commissioner & President of Ireland (1976-1990)
• Mary Robinson, President of Ireland (1990-1997)
• Mary McAleese, President of Ireland (1997-present)
• Bertie Ahern, prime minister (the Taoiseach) and leader of Fianna Fáil
• Gerry Adams - politician & leader of Sinn Féin
• Wolfe Tone - nationalist leader
• David Trimble - former First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
• Brian Lenihan - Tánaiste & defeated presidential candidate
• Roger Casement - human rights campaigner turned revolutionary
• Michael Collins - assassinated President of the Provisional Government
• Gerry Fitt - politician & first leader of the SDLP
• John Hume - MP, MEP and second leader of the SDLP
• Garret FitzGerald - politician and Taoiseach (1981-2, 1982-87)
• Charles Haughey - politician and Taoiseach (1979-81; 1982; 1987-92)
• Countess Markiewicz - politician
• Rev. Ian Paisley MP, MEP, MLA - politician and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
• Charles Stewart Parnell - politician and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party
• Boyle Roche - eighteenth century politician and member of the Irish House of Commons
• Edmund Burke
• Arthur Griffith - President of Dáil Éireann (Jan-Aug 1922) & 1921 Treaty delegation leader
• David Norris - senator, Joycean scholar and gay rights campaigner
• Lord Edward FitzGerald - eighteenth century aristocratic revolutionary
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington - member of Irish House of Commons, military leader and British Prime Minister
• Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford Irish-born UK politician, cabinet minister and author.
• Pat Cox - President of the European Parliament
• Brian Boru - High King of Ireland
• Rory O'Connor - High King of Ireland
• Dermot McMurrough - King of Leinster
• Garret Fitzgerald - the Great Earl of Kildare
• Patrick Sarsfield - Earl of Lucan - military leader
• Willam Joyce - Lord Haw Haw - Nazi propagandist
• Robert Emmet - leader of 1803 rebellion
• Henry Joy McCracken - Ulster leader of 1798 rebellion
• Daniel O'Connell - The Liberator - leader of campaign for Catholic Emancipation
• Isaac Butt - Home Rule leader
• Michael Davitt (1846-1906) - founder of the Land League
• John Redmond - Home Rule leader
• Eoin MacNeill - founder-member of the Gaelic League
• Thomas J Clarke - signatory of 1916 Proclamation
• The O'Rahilly - 1916 leader
• Joseph Mary Plunkett - signatory of 1916 Proclamation
• Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa - veteran Fenian leader (d. 1915)
• Seán Mac Diarmada - signatory of 1916 Proclamation
• Thomas MacDonagh - signatory of 1916 Proclamation
• Eamonn Ceannt - signatory of 1916 Proclamation
• Tomás MacCurtain - Lord Mayor of Cork (d. 1920)
• Terence MacSwiney - Lord Mayor of Cork (d. 1920)
• Arthur Griffith - Home Rule leader (d. 1922)
• Seán Lemass - Taoiseach
• General Eoin O'Duffy - leader of the Blueshirts
• John A Costello - Taoiseach (1948-51),(1954-57)
• Noel Browne - controversial Health Minister (1948-51)
• Seán MacBride - IRA chief, minister (1948-51),lawyer and founder member of Amnesty International
• T.K. Whitaker - architect of post-war economic development
• Liam Cosgrave - Taoiseach(1973-77)
• Frederick Boland - Diplomat and Irish delegate to UN
• Lord Edward Fitzgerald - aristocratic rebel in 1798 rebellion
• Henry Grattan- 18th century defender of Irish parliamentary independence and opponent of the Act of Union
• Thomas D'Arcy McGee, promoter of a federal union for the Canadian provinces

• Nicholas Comins (binaural stethoscope)
• John Phillip Holland (submarine designer)
• John Boyd Dunlop (pneumatic tyre)
• William Rowan Hamilton (quaternions; mathematical physics)
• George Francis FitzGerald - physicist
• George Stokes
• Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton - physicist (1951 Nobel Prize in Physics)
• Virginia O'Mahony - President of the Irish Primary Principals Network

• George Best, footballer
• John Pius Boland - double Olympic medal-winner/tennis,1896
• Sean Boylan, long-time manager of All-Ireland winning Meath football team
• Eamon Coughlan, runner
• Ronnie Delany - Olympic medal winner/athletics
• Damien Duff, footballer
• Eamon Dunphy, soccer player turned media commentator and broadcaster
• Shay Given, footballer
• Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed, 19th century mountaineer
• Eddie Irvine, Formula One driver
• Robbie Keane, footballer
• Roy Keane, footballer
• Sean Kelly, cyclist
• Dave McAuley, boxer
• Mick McCarthy - former Republic of Ireland football manager
• Paul McGinley, golfer
• Barry McGuigan, boxer
• Pat O'Callaghan - Olympic gold medal/hammer, 1928, 1932
• Brian O'Driscoll, rugby player
• Mick O'Dywer, successful gaelic inter-county football manager
• Jonjo O'Neill, jockey
• Colm O'Rourke, Gaelic Athletic Association GAA footballer
• Sonia O'Sullivan, Olympic medal winner
• Niall Quinn, footballer
• Stephen Roche, cyclist
• Michelle Smith - disgraced Olympic swimming medal-winner
• Bob Tisdall - Olympic gold medal/400mH, 1932
• John Treacy - Olympic silver medal/marathon, 1984
• Ruby Walsh, jockey
• Keith Wood, rugby player

• Emily O'Reilly - journalist, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner
• James Hamilton - Director of Public Prosecutions
• Harry Clarke - stained glass artist
• Michael Mills - Ombudsman
• Kevin Murphy, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner
• Arthur Guinness - brewer
• Terry Wogan - TV and radio "personality"
• Gay Byrne - broadcaster and presenter of the Late Late Show (1962-1999)
• Eamonn Andrews - TV personality, producer and businessman
• Graham Norton - TV personality and actor
• Pat Kenny - broadcaster & presenter of the Late Late Show (1999-present)
• George Berkeley - philosopher
• Desmond Connell, Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland
• Lord Eames, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
• Jim Duffy - Irish advisor to Australia's Republic Advisory Committee
• Lord Killanin, former head of the International Olympic Committee
• St. Patrick - Welsh born Irish patron saint
• St. Brigid - Irish saint and bishop
• St. Aidan of Lindisfarne
• Dermot Morgan - satirist and star of Father Ted
• Lord Henry Mountcharles - rock impressario, owner of Slane Castle, politician
• Edward Arthur Henry Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford - Gate Theatre manager
• Lady Mary Heath - early aviator
• Michelle Burke - twice Oscar-winner for make-up
• Philip Treacy - milliner
• Norah Barnacle - wife of James Joyce
• Sir Alfred Chester Beatty
• Sir Horace Plunkett - founder of co-operative movement
• Sir Anthony J F O'Reilly - Independent Newspapers and head of Heinz, 1979-1996
• Kitty O'Shea - mistress of Charles Stewart Parnell
• Edward Martyn - co-founder of the Irish Literary Theatre
• James Larkin - labour leader
• William Martin Murphy - Dublin Employers Association (1911)
• Johannes Scotus Erigena - theologian (b. 810)
• Ernest Shackleton - explorer
• Grace O'Malley - Granuaile,Gráinne Mhaol, pirate queen
• Edward McLysaght - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1943-54
• Gerard Slevin - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1954-81
• Patricia Donlon - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1995-97
• Donal Begley - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1981-95
• Brendan O Donoghue - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1997-date
• Niall FitzGerald, honorary KBE, chief executive Unilever
• Eliza Lynch, mistress of Francisco López, Paraguayan dictator