Ireland's Greatest

Ireland's Greatest was a 2010 public poll by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and associated television documentary series broadcast on RTÉ One, where viewers voted to choose the greatest person in the history of Ireland. The concept was based on the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons. The winner was John Hume.

To draw up an initial shortlist of 40 names, RTÉ commissioned an opinion poll of 1,000 members of the public, carried out by Ipsos MRBI in late 2009. The shortlist was published on 22 March 2010 on the RTÉ.ie website, and readers could vote for their preferred person for 12 days, ending on 2 April; one vote per IP address was permitted. The top ten was announced on The Tubridy Show with Myles Dungan on 5 April 2010. The top five was established at this point, but not publicised until RTÉ's programming schedule for autumn 2010 was unveiled in August. Each of the top five was profiled in a one-hour documentary programme broadcast in autumn 2010 and presented by a public figure advocating that person's claim to the title of "greatest person". Viewers voted for the overall winner, announced on The Late Late Show on 22 October 2010.

The ranking of the top five, and the advocates who each present a one-hour documentary about one of them, were as follows:

The following people were shortlisted:

In 2005, Marian Finucane's radio show organised a similar poll to find Ireland's greatest woman. There were some claims of ballot-stuffing. The top ten were:

In September 2009, RTÉ ran an online poll in sponsored by Paddy Power to nominate Ireland's greatest sportsperson. A shortlist of 32 names was selected by a panel of experts. The top ten was announced on 31 December 2009:

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