132 women, from the early saints to the presidents. This is a selection, not a ranking. Each note comes from her own Wikipedia article, and her county links to its page on this site.
Early Christian and medieval Ireland (6) · 1500–1700 (3) · The eighteenth century and 1798 (10) · The nineteenth century (33) · The revolutionary generation, c.1890–1923 (38) · Since 1923 (42) · By county
No county (20): Derbforgaill, Alice Kyteler (Ireland), Katherine FitzGerald, the Old Countess of Desmond, Mary Ann McCracken (Belfast), Maria Edgeworth (Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England), Sydney, Lady Morgan (Dublin or the Irish Sea (disputed)), Margaret Haughery (Ireland), Isabella Tod (Edinburgh, Scotland), Edith Somerville (Corfu), Maud Gonne (Tongham, Surrey, England), Constance Markievicz (London, England), Mary MacSwiney (London, England), Delia Larkin (Liverpool, England), Margaret Skinnider (Coatbridge, Scotland), Nora Connolly O'Brien (Edinburgh, Scotland), Mary Lavin (Walpole, Massachusetts, US), Siobhán McKenna (Belfast), Betty Williams (Belfast), Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Belfast), Mary McAleese (Belfast). Belfast-born women are listed without a county because the city lies in both Antrim and Down. Most women in this selection were born in Dublin (35) — that reflects who has been written about, not where notable women came from.
Constance Markievicz. She was born in London to the Gore-Booth family of Lissadell, County Sligo.
Mary Robinson of Ballina, County Mayo, president from 1990 to 1997. Mary McAleese, who succeeded her, was the first woman in the world to succeed another woman as president.
Yes. Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille, c. 1530 – c. 1603) led the Ó Máille lordship around Clew Bay and petitioned Elizabeth I in 1593. The Irish annals do not mention her, so most of the evidence for her life comes from English records.
Kay McNulty of Creeslough, County Donegal, one of the six original programmers of ENIAC.
Each entry was checked against the woman's English Wikipedia article (October 2026), linked beside it. An Irish form of a name is given only where the article gives one. Counties are counties of birth. "Associated with" marks the few women whose birthplace is unknown or only traditional, but whose article ties them to one county. Dates follow the article. Where it hedges (c., ?, or two years), so does this page.
This page does not yet link the Dictionary of Irish Biography, because its site could not be read automatically for checking. Many of these women have DIB entries, and the Wikipedia articles cite them.
Women warriors of Irish myth · Nobel laureates · Irish inventions · Born in each county