From the Armagh footballer who introduced the penalty kick to the Cork inventor who installed the first floodlight system at the Statue of Liberty, Ireland's thirty-two counties have been providing innumerable Irish men and women around the world for hundreds of years. Great Irish People celebrates the achievements of these Irish men and women.

 

Great Irish People traces those memorable Irish figures from the Flight of the Earls in 1607 throughout the most dramatic four centuries in the country's history, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement. This period saw men and women of Ireland reach dizzying heights, not only within Ireland but worldwide, including: Antrim’s Chaim Herzog became President of Israel; Derry's Chames Thomson designed the Great Seal of the USA; Cork’s Matthew Thornton was a signatory of the American Declaration of Independence; Armagh's Arthur Hunter was the Premier of Queensland and Carlow’s Patrick Francis Moran the Archbishop of Sydney.

 

Great Irish People is laid out county-by-county allowing an extensive look at this 'reservoir' of Irish men and women of merit and achievement. This is a special collection celebrating the contributions made by the Irish at home and in virtually every corner of the globe; an immense, amazing, sometimes bizarre, extraordinary and varied collective.