Irish Celebrity Girl

There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. The 6th century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe", followed by Kilian of Würzburg and Vergilius of Salzburg. The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the "father of chemistry". Famous Irish explorers include Brendan the Navigator, Robert McClure, Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides; and an Irishman was the first European to set foot on American soil in Columbus' expedition of 1492.
Large populations of people of Irish ethnicity live in many western countries, particularly in English-speaking countries. Historically, emigration has been caused by politics, famine and economic issues. An estimated 50 to 80 million people make up the Irish diaspora today, which includes Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Jamaica, Trinidad, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Germany and Brazil. The largest number of people of Irish descent live in the United States—about ten times more than in Ireland itself.
However, it had been recognised that the estimated numbers of the Irish diaspora may be highly inaccurate; one reason is that the majority of ancestral censuses conducted within the United States and Canada record self-reported ancestry, which is often unreliable. The majority of people living within immigrated populations (i.e. Australia, United States, Canada etc.) are of mixed ancestry due to decades, at times centuries, of inter-marriage with other immigrants or indigenous populations, hence claiming one specific ancestry is often personal preference or perceived ancestry rather than fact.
The author Jim Webb suggests that a large number (he suspects near half) of those claiming Irish-American ancestry, especially among Protestants, may be Scots Irish (that is, descendents of Scottish people who populated the Irish province of Ulster)