Greatest Irish contribution(s) to the world ?

[Maciamo]

Let's follow the series of greatest contributions to the world (see related threads below) with Ireland.

What in your opinion does global modern society owe to Ireland and Irish people ?

At first thought I can think of Irish music (I won't say Celtic music, as the term Celtic is not intrinsic to Ireland), Irish actors and comedians, Irish pubs and beers, and a long list of very influential politicians of Irish descent in many countries.

Your ideas are welcome.


Related threads :

Greatest contributions of :

Ancient Egypt - Ancient Greece - Ancient Rome

India - China - Japan

Belgium - Britain - France - Germany - Netherlands - Italy - Poland - Spain

[Antigone]

Literature and poetry.

Book of Kells, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, WB Yeats, Thomas Moore, Johnathon Smith, JB Dillon, just to name a few.

[A ke bono kane kotto]

If Ireland gave us something to thank for it must be music ! Folk, New Age, Pop, Rock, you name it.

[Eireannach]

Our Monks like Columba, St Aidan, Columbanus etc founded many monastaries throughout Europe during the dark ages to spread Christianity e.g Iona, Lindisfarne; Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaines in France and Bobbio in Italy, : St. Gall in Switzerland, Disibodenberg in the Rhine Palatinate, St. Paul's at Besancon, Lure and Cusance in the Dicoese of Besancon, Beze in the Diocese of Langres, Remiremont Abbey and Moyenmoutier Abbey in the Diocese of Toul, Fosses-la-Ville in the Diocese of Liege, Mont-St-Michel at Peronne, Ebersmunster in Lower Alsace, St. Martin's at Cologne, the Scots Monastery, Regensberg, Vienna, Erfurt and Wurzburg.


Music.

Whiskey.

[Rastko Pocesta]

1. Literature (Oscar Wilde & James Joyce)
2. Politicians (in particular, Kennedy's)
3. Actors (Peter O'Toole :bowing: Also Byrne and Brosnan)

[Regulus]

Our Monks like Columba, St Aidan, Columbanus etc founded many monastaries throughout Europe during the dark ages to spread Christianity e.g Iona, Lindisfarne; Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaines in France and Bobbio in Italy, : St. Gall in Switzerland, Disibodenberg in the Rhine Palatinate, St. Paul's at Besancon, Lure and Cusance in the Dicoese of Besancon, Beze in the Diocese of Langres, Remiremont Abbey and Moyenmoutier Abbey in the Diocese of Toul, Fosses-la-Ville in the Diocese of Liege, Mont-St-Michel at Peronne, Ebersmunster in Lower Alsace, St. Martin's at Cologne, the Scots Monastery, Regensberg, Vienna, Erfurt and Wurzburg.


.

Agreed. Theirs was a great work.

[Cimmerianbloke]

Eireannach is dead right. Europe wouldn't be the same had Irish monasticism not existed. Christianity would have a different face without the scholars and the missionary work of Irish "saints" and monks. Their influence shaped Middle Age Europe and gave us the fantastic Heritage we can all admire today in all corners of Europe, but most specifically in Saint Gall, where the biggest collection of manuscripts is stored and studied.
Anyone voting for Pierce Brosnan or Colin Farrell as the greatest contribution the Irish have given the world is an Amadan even though Farrell himself thinks he's God's gift to women...

[Reinaert]

The best thing about Ireland is they kicked the English out.
More to follow.

For the rest I like the music.
And Guinness and whiskey.

And the fact that we have the same roots. LOL

[Bodicea]

Guinness
Wilde
Millions of people

[Yorkie]

The best thing about Ireland is they kicked the English out.
More to follow.

For the rest I like the music.
And Guinness and whiskey.

And the fact that we have the same roots. LOL

When exactly did the Irish 'kick the English out'? Successive waves of 'English', from Strongbow's Anglo-Norman invaders through the Elizabethan and Williamite Plantations to the present day have settled in Ireland, and are now absorbed within the population. Like it or not, Northern Ireland is constitutionally part of Great Britain and the Eire government have given up all claims to the six counties of Ulster. That is some 'kicking out', eh Reinaert?

Frankly, I wish the UK government would pull out of Northern Ireland. It would save the mainland British tax-payers a fortune in social security payments. Plus, there would be no 'Bratash' to blame for everything when the economy nose-dives without the generous EU handouts.

What is Ireland's greatest contribution? Arguably literature from the early monks to Beckett and Joyce. Oh, and Val Doonican's 'Delaney's Donkey' is a fine tune.

[Winning William]

I'm thinking the building of ancient monuments and buildings in Neolithic Europe would have been affected if some of the oldest buildings/structures/monuments in the world hadn't have been built in Ireland, such as Newgrange in 3200bc(predating pyramids) and Carrowmore in 4000-5000bc. There were was obviously a maritime spread of ideas along/up?/down? the Atlantic coast of Europe but the very earliest dates found so far have often been in Ireland( as well as Brittany and Malta). It is a period not many people or historians are sure of(i read new theories about Ancient Europe every week) but some of the dates involved are astounding, and putting 2 and 2 together something facinating and mysterious was happening on the Western fringe of Europe at that time that we are only slowly learning about.(just watched Ancient History of Britain on BBC1 if you're wondering). I don't think this advanced culture should be dismissed easily.

[JKU]

When exactly did the Irish 'kick the English out'? Successive waves of 'English', from Strongbow's Anglo-Norman invaders through the Elizabethan and Williamite Plantations to the present day have settled in Ireland, and are now absorbed within the population. Like it or not, Northern Ireland is constitutionally part of Great Britain and the Eire government have given up all claims to the six counties of Ulster. That is some 'kicking out', eh Reinaert?

Frankly, I wish the UK government would pull out of Northern Ireland. It would save the mainland British tax-payers a fortune in social security payments. Plus, there would be no 'Bratash' to blame for everything when the economy nose-dives without the generous EU handouts.

What is Ireland's greatest contribution? Arguably literature from the early monks to Beckett and Joyce. Oh, and Val Doonican's 'Delaney's Donkey' is a fine tune.

I believe it's a reference to the 1922 treaty that was forced from the UK during a bloody insurgency to win home Rule.

Strongbow plus most upper class followers were Cambro Norman (not English) loyalists to French speaking kings of England (who brought an army from all over France and Belgium to take England). Strongbow’s lower class followers were mostly Welshmen and Flemings. So referring to them as English is similar to referring to Scottish or Iris soldiers in the British Army as Englishmen. Likewise many later "English" in Ireland were of Irish or Scandinavian Iris ancestry. That’s not to say there wasn’t any English input, there certainly was particularly from Bristol in Mediaeval times but by far and large much of the talk of “English” of the Pale was overblown.

Elizabethan and Williamite Plantations? I’m familiar w Elizabethan Plantations in eastern, southern Ireland but the last plantation I’m familiar w was James I in Ulster. Wlich of course was mostly planted w Scots peasants, although there was some more English influx post civil war, I’m not familiar w any plantations from any Williams.

As far as Irish contrbutions, maybe submarines.

[himagain]

Ah yes, Harp is a wonderful lager...and Guinness...well? I enjoy stouts but I have had many Belgian beers that put Guinness to shame. I think, on the whole, that I shall go with Irish literary figures.

[Taharqa]

Pubs most definitely.

[hope]

Literature without doubt, from the early annalists to the modern author!

[Eireannach]

When exactly did the Irish 'kick the English out'? Successive waves of 'English', from Strongbow's Anglo-Norman invaders through the Elizabethan and Williamite Plantations to the present day have settled in Ireland, and are now absorbed within the population. Like it or not, Northern Ireland is constitutionally part of Great Britain and the Eire government have given up all claims to the six counties of Ulster. That is some 'kicking out', eh Reinaert?

Ulster has 9 counties. 6 of which make NI. "The Eire government"?? What is this? Éire is the Irish word for Ireland.

Frankly, I wish the UK government would pull out of Northern Ireland. It would save the mainland British tax-payers a fortune in social security payments. Plus, there would be no 'Bratash' to blame for everything when the economy nose-dives without the generous EU handouts.

Ireland would undoubtedly be a better place if the British went home to their own island and stopped interferring in our island.

[albanopolis]

Ulster has 9 counties. 6 of which make NI. "The Eire government"?? What is this? Éire is the Irish word for Ireland.




Ireland would undoubtedly be a better place if the British went home to their own island and stopped interferring in our island.

Seen things from New York I would guess Irish have contributed to the world with a lot of police officers, firefighters, beerdrinkers, presidents and pubs. I personally know a lot of them. Great people, beautifull women etc... But when you think how on earth, that little country called Ireland gave the world about 70 milion emigrants, its crazy... If it was not for English who colonized the new world, and opened new lands I would guess the Irish graves today will look like skyscrapers. There would have been no space empty..

[Maciamo]

Seen things from New York I would guess Irish have contributed to the world with a lot of police officers, firefighters, beerdrinkers, presidents and pubs. I personally know a lot of them. Great people, beautifull women etc... But when you think how on earth, that little country called Ireland gave the world about 70 milion emigrants, its crazy... If it was not for English who colonized the new world, and opened new lands I would guess the Irish graves today will look like skyscrapers. There would have been no space empty..

70 million immigrants ? Do you mean the accumulated total of people who emigrated from Ireland over the last 500 years ? Or people who can claim at least partial Irish ancestry outside Ireland today ? By either reckoning it isn't much. If you count partial ancestry in the USA today, and make the total for each ancestry, you get well over 1.5 billion people - 5 times the actual country's population. Some people can claim ancestry from more than 10 countries.

[albanopolis]

70 million immigrants ? Do you mean the accumulated total of people who emigrated from Ireland over the last 500 years ? Or people who can claim at least partial Irish ancestry outside Ireland today ? By either reckoning it isn't much. If you count partial ancestry in the USA today, and make the total for each ancestry, you get well over 1.5 billion people - 5 times the actual country's population. Some people can claim ancestry from more than 10 countries.

I guess at least one parent Irish. In England alone there are 10 milion Irish. In usa there are 40 mil of them. Australia can easyly be called New Ireland. All Latin American countries with no exception have Irish. Not because there is anything wrong with it, but when you think of the size of the country they came from is frightening. Italy and England contrbiuted with the same amount of people to the New World, but the size of England and Italy in population and territorial terms was and is much bigger. My view is that, its the only country in the world where a lot more people live outside the country than in the country itself. Irish have contributed to the English culture through writters and artists. But that is not nessesary a contributon to the world. Anglosphere is not the world. I don't think Chinese care what Irish writters wrote in their books. They have more than enough of their own. The few scientists they have in science is the only contribution to the world that counts. But when you compare with Scotish contribution its a big difference. So few scots, so many great thinkers.