Mary or Louis to be named Ireland’s Greatest?

Mary or Louis to be named Ireland’s Greatest person?


Anna Marie Flynn

THE votes have been cast and all that remains is a waiting game to see if Mayo’s Mary Robinson or Louis Walsh will be crowned the greatest Irish person of all time.
Voting in RTÉ’s Ireland’s Greatest competition closed on Friday afternoon last and the two Mayo contenders have been tipped to hit the top five.
The state broadcaster invited the public to vote for the country’s greatest figures from a shortlist of 40 people compiled through a MRBI poll it commissioned.
The shortlist includes people from across all aspects of Irish life including sport, politics, music, arts and literature. Mary Robinson and Louis Walsh figure alongside the late WB Yeats and Phil Lynott and modern-day heroes Brian O’Driscoll and Bono.
Mayo’s former President, Mary Robinson, is just one of three women vying for the title, along with Adi Roche and Sonia O’Sullivan.
The top five figures, as nominated by the voters, will then become the subject of one of five brand new hour-long documentaries, each charting the individual’s impact and contribution to Irish life, as interpreted and championed by a well-known personality.
The resulting series of documentaries will be broadcast this September on RTÉ One.
Once these documentaries have aired, the public will again be given the opportunity to reassess which person deserves the accolade of Ireland’s Greatest Figure, with the winner being announced on ‘The Late Late Show’ in October.
Despite been based on the successful BBC series Great Britons, Ireland’s Greatest has already come under fire for its shortlist which some argue is over-loaded with entertainers. The fact that only three females have been included has also been met with disappointment. 
Despite this, the show aims to be an Irish interpretation of the BBC format and aims to provide a platform for the Irish public to engage and participate in debate, discussion, and analysis in determining who is, to their mind, Ireland’s greatest.

Mary is Ballina’s Greatest
WHETHER or not she’ll be named Ireland’s Greatest remains to be seen, but Ballina native Mary Robinson is certainly top of the pops in her hometown.
The former President has come out on top of the favourites in the running to have Ballina’s new pedestrian bridge named in their honour.
Somewhat of a political hot-potato since the bridge’s official opening almost a year ago, the naming of the bridge then went to public consultation and the results say it all.
Over 180 people put names forward and out of these, 50 selected Mary Robinson. A further 34 said the bridge should be named after the Beckett family, as the bridge is accessed through their former land and they provided much-needed employment in the town as a popular business family for generations.
Local factory Hollister was also popular among those who made submissions, with 25 people suggesting the bridge be named after founder John Schneider, or simply Hollister Bridge.
Other names included Fr Foy Bridge, PJ Downey Bridge, Salmon Leap Bridge and Ridgepool Bridge. The item is set to come before the Town Council once again in the coming weeks.