Famous
Irish
People
Roy Keane
Roy Keane was born in Co. Cork. As a schoolboy he played football for Cobh and was signed by Nottingham Forest
as a teenager. From there he was sold to Manchester Untied for £4 million pounds and is know their captain and
the captain of the Republic of Ireland.
Micheal Collins
Collins was born on 6th Oct 1890 at a place called Sam's Cross outside Clonakilty, Co Cork. He took part in the
1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. In 1921 Collins was a signatory to a Treaty bring to an end the war between Britain & Ireland. This
treaty was not to the liking of all Irishmen and a civil war broke out. Collins had said after the signing "I tell you early this
morning I signed my death warrant". He was killed in an ambush in Cork in 1923. Prior to the treaty Collins was responsible
for organising resistance to British rule in Ireland. His tactics are said to be the basis for all Guerrilla warfare.
Eamonn De Valera
De Valera was born in Manhattan, New York on the 14th October 1882, son of a Spanish immigrant father and an
Irish immigrant mother. He was a commandant in the 1916 Rising and had his death sentence commuted because the British authorities were unsure
of his nationality and wanted to avoid an international incident with the United States. Elected as a Sinn Fein MP for East Clare in July 1917.
He was elected as President of Ireland on the 25th June 1959 at the age of 76, and held office until the 24th June 1973 having been re-elected
on 1st July 1966. He died on the 29th of August 1975 at the age of 92.
Mary Robinson
Robinson was elected to office in 1990---a milestone event in Irish society---not only was she the first woman
president of Ireland, she was, at the time, one of only three female heads of state in the world. She resigned the presidency on Sept. 12, 1997,
11 weeks short of her full 7 year term, to accept the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Arthur Guinness
It was in 1759 that young Arthur Guinness, then 34 and already experienced brewer, decided to set up business in
Dublin. His new premises covered a mere one-acre at St. James's Gate on the banks of the Liffey. Small beginnings certainly, but that did not
deter Mr. Guinness's ambition, if the lease is anything to judge by. It was for 9,000 years, at 45 Pounds p.a. The economic climate of the
time did not encourage optimism competition was stiff as a result of English imports. Yet, inspite of it all, the Guinness brewery flourished
and grew.
U2
U2 was formed in 1978 by Larry Mullen (drums), Adam Clayton (bass), The Edge (guitar) and Bono (vocals), while they
were all still students at Dublin's Mount Temple School.
The teenage U2 made a local name for themselves in their native Dublin and
released a three track EP on CBS called U23 in 1979. In January 1980, a readers' poll in the Irish rock magazine Hot Press gave U2the
top spot in five categories. In April, they signed with Island Records and in May released their first single, 11 O' Clock Tick Tock. Recent Grammy
awards include: Best Rock Group Performance (Achtung Baby), Best Alternative Album (Zooropa) and Best Music Video, Long Form (Zoo TV
Live from Sydney). U2 have also won five MTV awards and their worldwide record sales are now in excess of 70 million.
The Corrs
With their unique blend of contemporary and traditional Irish music, the Corrs, have established themselves as true
originals. On their new "TALK ON CORNERS," Dundalk, Ireland's favourite sibling quartet-Jim (keyboards/guitars/vocal), Andrea (lead vocals,
tin whistle), Caroline (drums, bodhran, vocals) and Sharon (violin, vocals)-create a sound steeped in the folk music of their homeland.
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St Aidan's CBS, Whitehall, Dublin, Ireland