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Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern (Bartholomew Patrick Ahern) , 1951-, Irish politician, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1997-2008). Born into a working-class family, he studied accounting at University College, Dublin. A member of Fianna Fáil , he entered the Irish parliament in 1977 and held a numb...
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Finn mac Cumhail
Finn mac Cumhail Fionn mac Cumhail, or Finn MacCool , semimythical Irish hero. His exploits are recorded in long narrative poems by Ossian and in many ballads, called Fenian ballads after the Fenians, or Fianna, professional fighters whom Finn was said to have headed in the 3d cent. C...
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Robert Erskine Childers
Robert Erskine Childers , 1870-1922, Irish politician and author. Born into a Protestant family, he was a clerk in the House of Commons (1895-1910). Gradually becoming convinced of the need for Irish Home Rule, he resigned to work for it, engaging in gun-running for the Irish Volunteers in 1914. Aft...
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Fine Gael
Fine Gael , Irish political party. Formed in 1933, it was the successor of the party founded by William Cosgrave that held power from the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 until ousted by the republican Fianna Fáil in 1932. The Fine Gael party accepted the British plan that partiti...
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Charles James Haughey
Charles James Haughey , 1925-2006, Irish politician. A successful accountant and real estate investor, he entered Parliament as a Fianna Fáil member in 1957. After holding a succession of ministerial positions in the 1960s, he was dismissed as minister of finance in 1970 for alleged gunrunn...
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Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch (John Mary Lynch), 1917-99, Irish statesman. Before he embarked on his political career, he gained nationwide fame as an athlete, captaining several winning hurling teams in the 1930s and 40s. He studied law at University College in Cork and at the King's Inns in Dublin and was admitted ...
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Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds 1935-, Irish politician, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1992-95). A successful business executive, Reynolds won (1977) a seat in the Irish parliament as a member of the Fianna Fáil party. He was minister of posts and telegraphs and of transport (1979-81), of ene...
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Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland Gaelic, Eire, republic (2005 est. pop. 4,016,000), 27,136 sq mi (70,282 sq km). It occupies all but the northeastern corner of the island of Ireland in the British Isles. (For physical geography and history to 1922, see Ireland .) From 1922 to 1937 the country was known as th...
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Eamon De Valera
Eamon De Valera , 1882-1975, Irish statesman, b. New York City. He was taken as a child to Ireland. As a young man he joined the movement advocating physical force to achieve Irish independence and took part in the Easter Rebellion of 1916. He was sentenced to life imprisonment (escaping execution b...
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