The importance of being Irish

Sceala Clann T.D. Location: Wicklow

I would be among the section of population convinced that ...being Irish in Ireland in the 21st century ...has never been so unimportant ...less relevant.
RTE ...however ...feel now is the time to discuss how important being Irish is.

The Importance of Being Irish
New series exploring the notion of what it means to be Irish as Ireland has transformed from an impoverished, colonised island on the edge of Europe to a confident and largely affluent nation on the world stage.
The Importance of being Irish - Documentary
"It celebrates and opens up to us the huge impact made, often quietly and without much fanfare, by talented Irish men and women, all over the world, in spheres as diverse as the sciences, law, medicine, business, engineering and the public service."
President Mary McAleese

Yellow Asylum Films, in association with the Royal Irish Academy and supported by IDA Ireland, are producing a 4 X 1 hour documentary series called The Importance of being Irish for RTE1, starting at 10.15 pm on 18th March.
The series, directed by Alan Gilsenan, will explore the ingenuity of the Irish mind and explore whether it is possible to identify a uniquely Irish perspective and contribution to the processes of creativity and innovation. In this, the Academy seeks to widen public understanding of Ireland’s creative and innovative capacities beyond the typical characterisation of Ireland as a land of novelists, poets and playwrights.

The series will profile world-class Irish engineers and scientists, business people as well as those academics who work in the humanities and social sciences.
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Peter O’Neill, DCENR; Clare Duignan; RTÉ, Denis Molumby, IDA, Alan Gilsenan, Yellow Asylum Films, President McAleese, Rody Molloy, FÁS
The series was launched by President Mary McAleese on Thursday 6 March 2008.
"Good morning, and thank you very much for the kind invitation to join you this morning for the launch of a wonderful television documentary series, "The Importance of being Irish".
It celebrates and opens up to us the huge impact made, often quietly and without much fanfare, by talented Irish men and women, all over the world, in spheres as diverse as the sciences, law, medicine, business, engineering and the public service. These spheres have long been overshadowed in terms of recognition by our pantheon of geniuses in the world of the Arts. So this rebalancing is more than a bit overdue but, of course, the series, in looking for a title, looked to a gifted writer whose genius for self-promotion was of legendary proportions.

The series, by contrast, promotes the stories of our global Irish family. It tells of their accomplishments, of the many ways in which they shaped the world for the better. Each individual story is one of tenacity, hard work, creativity, occasional, sheer brilliance and of achievement. Together they give us an insight into the best of our Irish character and value system. They place us in the world not simply as a nation of emigrants but of internationalists, capable of making ourselves at home and of embedding ourselves and the best of our culture virtually anywhere in the world.
Today we are so fortunate to have a generation of highly educated, immensely confident, cosmopolitan, young Irish men and women, for whom a comfortable ebb and flow into and out of Ireland is very much the pattern of their lives. They have a better chance than any generation before to make their mark at home or in a place of their choice and not the choice of capricious, external forces. The old Irish, emigrant communities around the world have bequeathed to them a formidable network and resource base which has breathed fresh energy into our economy, our culture and our peace process.
The five million or so inhabitants of this island have over seventy million human connections world-wide today. Their lives form part of our past, our present and our future. We draw from many wells of experience and we have an infinity of unsung heroes, heroines, successes and transcendent, inspirational stories yet to be told. This series will do much to unpack some of those stories and to open us up much more fully to our continuing and changing narrative as a people.
This series is public service broadcasting at its absolute best. Along with the expansion of RTE's public service outreach to Irish communities abroad, it is building and reinforcing the sense of belonging that unites even the most cosmopolitan and far-flung of us into an Irish village clan, concerned about one another, interested in one another, proud of one another. It will, I hope, inspire a new generation to be our innovators, our achievers of tomorrow whether here or elsewhere in the world."

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The importance of being Irish