List of Old Rockmen

This is a list of notable Past Pupils of Blackrock College (Irish: Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe), a Catholic, voluntary secondary school for boys aged 14–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College was founded by French missionaries in 1860, to act as a school and civil service training centre. Set in 0.25 square kilometres (62 acres) of grounds, it has an illustrious sporting tradition. The College, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from Dublin city centre is just in from the sea, and is self-contained, with a large boarding school and teaching facilities. Now run by a lay foundation in trust, it maintains high academic standards and requires all pupils to participate in non-academic activities. The missionary tradition continues with charity programmes, especially at Christmas. It accommodates approximately 1,100 day (primarily) and boarding students.

Literature

• Brian O'Nolan, wrote the novels At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) and The Third Policeman (1967) under the nom de plume Flann O'Brien. A career civil servant, he also wrote satircal columns in The Irish Times under the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen.^[1]
• Pádraic Ó Conaire (28 February 1882 – 6 October 1928) was a writer and journalist who wrote in Irish, particularly about Irish emigrants in the UK.^[2]
• Joseph O'Connor, Author
• Liam O'Flaherty (August 28, 1896 – September 7, 1984) was a novelist and short story writer, known for The Informer, he was a major figure in the Irish Renaissance.^[3]
• Tim Pat Coogan is an Irish historian and journalist. He attended Blackrock in the late 1940s.
• Paul Murray, (b. 1975) a novelist, author of Skippy Dies

Journalism

• Paddy Murray, a journalist, who served as Editor of the Sunday Tribune from 2002-2005.
• Rory Carroll, a foreign reporter for The Guardian, he gained international attention when he was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2005. He was released unharmed.
• David McWilliams, an economics journalist and broadcaster.^[4]
• Paul Tansey, was the Economics Editor of The Irish Times; he also founded a business consultancy.^[5][6]
• Barry Glendenning, a journalist for The Guardian

Business

• David J. O'Reilly, Chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation.
• Lochlann Quinn, Former Chairman of AIB, Co-Founder of Glendimplex Group^[7]
• Dr. Brendan O'Regan CBE, visionary businessman responsible for transforming Shannon Airport and the Shannon Region and deeply involved in the peace and cooperation process in Ireland
• Michael O'Rourke, Founder of Setanta Television
• Eddie O'Connor, Founder and CEO of Airtricity and Mainstream Renewable Power
• Derek Quinlan, Real estate investor

Politics and government

• Éamon de Valera was one of the leaders of the Irish War of Independence, after which he served as Taoiseach of Ireland six times, introduced the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, and served two terms as Uachtarán na hÉireann. He was a pupil and later Professor of Mathematics at Blackrock.^[8]
• Ruairi Quinn, TD, is the Minister for Education and Skills in the Government of Ireland. He served as the Minister for Finance from 1994 to 1997, and leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002. He was a pupil at Blackrock in the early 1960s, where he was successful in rugby, athletics and art.^[9][10]
• Barry Andrews, a teacher, served as TD for Dún Laoghaire from 2002 until 2011. He was the Minister for Children from 2008 until 2011.^[11]
• Rory O'Hanlon was a Teachta Dála for Cavan–Monaghan from 1977 until 2011. He served in a range of cabinet positions and as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.^[12]
• Niall Ó Brolcháin was the Mayor of Galway from 2006-2007. He has also served as a county councillor and senator.^[13]
• James McNeill, was an Irish politician and diplomat, who served as the first High Commissioner to London and second Governor-General of the Irish Free State from 1927-1932.
• Art O'Connor, elected Sinn Féin MP for Kildare South in 1918, he joined the then revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. In the 2nd Dáil he served as Secretary for Agriculture from 1921-1922.
• Eoin Ó Broin, Socialist theorist, member of the Sinn Féin party
• Michael Collins, Irish Ambassador to the United States of America,^[14]

Legal

• Ronan Keane, Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland
• Dermot Gleeson, Former Attorney General, Current Chairman of AIB
• Michael Moriarty, High Court Judge
• Paul Gilligan, High Court Judge
• John Quirke, High Court Judge
• Seamus Egan, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland
• Vivion de Valera, son of Éamon de Valera, he served in the Army during The Emergency, then as a T.D.
• Rossa Fanning, Senior Counsel
• Paul Gardiner, Senior Counsel
• John L. Gardiner, head of International Litigation and Arbitration Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Shane Murphy, Senior Counsel

Humanitarian

• Frank Duff,^[8] Founder of the Legion of Mary
• Niall O'Brien,^[15] Missionary

Academic

• James Macmahon^[16]
• Bryan Patrick Beirne
• Alfred O'Rahilly

Arts

• Paul Costelloe
• Fergus Martin
• Michael McGlynn
• Ronan Murray
• Pauric Sweeney, Fashion Designer^[17]
• Robert Ballagh

Clergy

• Mgr. Emile August Allgeyer (1874–78)
• John Cardinal D'Alton^[18]
• John Charles McQuaid^[8]
• Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick

Sport

• Brian O'Driscoll was, since 2004, the captain of the Irish national rugby union team. He attended Blackrock college from 1992–1998, where he first played rugby.^[19][20]
• Nicholas Roche (Professional Cyclist)
• Leo Cullen^[21]
• Shane Byrne^[22]
• Victor Costello^[23] (Irish international rugby player and Olympic shot-putter)
• Hugo MacNeill^[24]
• Fergus Slattery^[24] (1970s rugby player, part of famous 1974 Lions Tour)
• Neil Francis^[24]
• Alain Rolland^[25] (Irish international rugby player and international rugby referee)
• Luke Fitzgerald^[26] (Irish international rugby player)
• Mark Vaughan (Dublin Gaelic Footballer)
• Cian O'Sullivan (Dublin Gaelic Footballer)
• Michael Darragh MacAuley (Dublin Gaelic Footballer)
• Bob Casey
• Ian Madigan (Irish international rugby player)
• Jason Harris-Wright (Leinster Rugby and Connacht Rugby professional rugby union player)
• David Quinlan (retired Irish international rugby player)
• Cillian Willis (Leinster Rugby player)
• Niall Brophy (one of the great Irish international rugby players of the 1950s and '60s)
• Brendan Mullin (Irish rugby international of the 1980s and '90s, and one of the country's greatest ever players)
• Jordi Murphy (Irish international rugby player)
• Brendan Macken (Leinster Rugby and Gloucester Rugby professional rugby union player)
• Andrew Conway (Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby professional rugby union player)
• Denis Buckley (Connacht Rugby professional rugby union player)
• Dave Gannon (Leinster Rugby, Connacht Rugby and Exeter Chiefs professional rugby union player)
• Vasily Artmyev ( Russian international rugby player)
• Ciarán Scally (Irish rugby international, forced to retired aged 20 after 4 caps in 1999)
• Niall Morris (rugby union) (Leinster Rugby and Leicester Tigers professional rugby union player)
• Ryle Nugent, RTÉ Rugby Commentator
• Michael Cusack, Founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association taught at the school
• Paul Dunne (golfer)
• Alan Lee (Irish international association football player)
• Garry Ringrose, (Leinster Rugby professional rugby union player)

Entertainment

• Des Bishop,^[27] Comedian
• Craig Doyle, Television Presenter
• Dave Fanning, DJ, Broadcaster
• Bob Geldof, musician, lead singer with The Boomtown Rats. Organiser of Live Aid concerts
• Frank Kelly, Actor
• David McSavage, Comedian
• Ardal O'Hanlon, Comic actor
• Ryan Tubridy, Broadcaster

References