The Importance of Being Irish was produced by Yellow Asylum Films and the RIA and screened on RTÉ over four episodes in March 2008. The series, directed by Alan Gilsenan, explores the ingenuity of the Irish mind and aims to discover whether it is possible to identify a uniquely Irish perspective and contribution to the processes of creativity and innovation. In this, the Academy seeks to widen public understanding of Ireland’s creative and innovative capacities beyond the typical characterisation of Ireland as a land of novelists, poets and playwrights. The series profiles world-class Irish engineers and scientists, business people and academics who work in the humanities and social sciences, including Professor Michael McElroy, Mary Robinson, David O’Reilly Peter Sutherland and Neville Isdell. The Irish Mind was sponsored by the IDA, FÁS, Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, RTÉ and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Episode 1 1945-1973
Episode 2 1973-1990
Episode 3 1990-2006
Episode 4 2007

The Irish Mind was a re-edited version of the same documentary, which aired on CNBC Worldwide and CNBC Europe in late 2008. Interview transcripts and episodes of The Irish Mind can be viewed online at www.theirishmind.com