Ireland's Greatest Statesman

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Leper

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I have watched the RTE series with great vigour. Who is Ireland's greatst statesman? - Michael Collins (Freedom Fighter and man of vision);James Connolly (1916 fame); John Hume (Civil Rights Hero); Mary Robinson (Human Rights Campaigner etc); and Bono of course for whatever reason!

Any of the first four would fit the bill as our greatest statesperson. It seems a pity that such a "competition" has been launched because a winner will be chosen. Collins, Connolly, Hume and Robinson are all excellent people and choosing a "winner" from the four would be like selecting the greatest book ever written. Obviously, everybody would have different reasons for the 1st Choice.

I hope no winner will be chosen.
 
Leper said:
I have watched the RTE series with great vigour. Who is Ireland's greatst statesman? - Michael Collins (Freedom Fighter and man of vision);James Connolly (1916 fame); John Hume (Civil Rights Hero); Mary Robinson (Human Rights Campaigner etc); and Bono of course for whatever reason!

Any of the first four would fit the bill as our greatest statesperson. It seems a pity that such a "competition" has been launched because a winner will be chosen. Collins, Connolly, Hume and Robinson are all excellent people and choosing a "winner" from the four would be like selecting the greatest book ever written. Obviously, everybody would have different reasons for the 1st Choice.

I hope no winner will be chosen.
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Stupid idea for a programme for the reasons you say. Plenty of great Irish people didn't make the list. Having said that, I only saw the Connolly and the Robinson programmes and really enjoyed them. To be honest, while I always admired Mary Robinson, I never really truly appreciated what she achieved. They would have been good stand alone programmes.
 
I've never really seen why people think Mary Robinson is so great, after all, who did she beat to get elected, Brian Lenihan who shot himself in the foot in a major way and Austin Currie.

To me, the fact that Bono is even mentioned in the list demeans the whole concept of it. I watched 5 minutes of Dave Fanning's eulogy and turned over, I'm sure anyone else who worked on debt relief or any other of the charitable efforts he has (in fairness to him) been involved in would have been rather insulted to see their efforts relegated to nowhere.

Personally, there's a better argument for someone like Lemass or Parnell in my view
 
Mpsox said:
I've never really seen why people think Mary Robinson is so great, after all, who did she beat to get elected, Brian Lenihan who shot himself in the foot in a major way and Austin Currie.
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Thats what I found so interesting. There is a lot more to Mary Robinson than the Presidency of Ireland. For example, she was standing up to the Catholic Church at a time when very few people had the courage to do it.
 
My vote would have gone to David Trimble who, IMO, put his political career and reputation on the line to help achieve a lasting peace in the North.
 
The idea of having a documentary on such people is quite good as some of the shows were interesting and informative, but turning it into a 'who's the greatest' undermines the whole effort. Being charitable and famous doesn't make you any better than someone who's charitable and not famous
 
I agree with Mpsox. Having Bono thrown in the mix ruined the whole concept of the series for me.
 
DB74 said:
My vote would have gone to David Trimble who, IMO, put his political career and reputation on the line to help achieve a lasting peace in the North.
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Took him long enough though.

It wasn't long before that he was walking arms-aloft down the Garvaghy Road with Ian Paisley wearing his nice orange sash.
 
bertie ahern should win it.
Only when he was ousted did the country start going downhill. If we brought bertie back, we could all be driving around in golden cars by now.
 
Robinson even left the office early.

Could not see the attrraction of this person.

Did she not sack staff at the Aras?

O Connell, Parnell, Lamass should be on the list.

John Hume should win.
 
Arguing who is the greatest Irish Person on this forum is as stupid as what the programme tried to achieve. I am simply saying that I found the programmes on Robinson and Connolly very interesting because I found out a lot about them that I didn't know. They were very good stand alone documentaries if you ignore the competition aspect.
People still seem to think that Mary Robinson was simply the first female president (I admit I was ignorant). Her life was a lot more interesting than that I have to say. I recommend that you watch it. It won't make you think that she is Ireland's greatest ever person but it might make you appreciate her a bit more. Same with James Connolly.
 
Sunny said:
Arguing who is the greatest Irish Person on this forum is as stupid as what the programme tried to achieve. I am simply saying that I found the programmes on Robinson and Connolly very interesting because I found out a lot about them that I didn't know. They were very good stand alone documentaries if you ignore the competition aspect.
People still seem to think that Mary Robinson was simply the first female president (I admit I was ignorant). Her life was a lot more interesting than that I have to say. I recommend that you watch it. It won't make you think that she is Ireland's greatest ever person but it might make you appreciate her a bit more. Same with James Connolly.
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Smells like sour grapes to me. You voted for Stephen Gately didn't you.
 
Latrade said:
Smells like sour grapes to me. You voted for Stephen Gately didn't you.
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He was a great singer, had the courage to announce he was gay and died young....What else could you want in Ireland's greatest person?? My dream of the Stephen Gately International Airport lives on.....
 
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