Dictionary of Irish Biography

From BBC News:

The biggest work ever published about the lives of famous Irish men and women has been launched in Belfast by poet Seamus Heaney. The nine-volume Dictionary of Irish Biography features more than 9,700 entries and spans 2,000 years of the island's history.

Described by Mr Heaney as "an epoch-making event in the history of Irish scholarship", it is a joint project between the Royal Irish Academy and Cambridge University Press. Alongside Northern Ireland luminaries from Joey Dunlop to CS Lewis, the historians and writers have profiled some of the more unusual figures from the past. Here are some abridged versions of just few of them.