List of University of Galway people

The following is a list of University of Galway people, including notable alumni and faculty members of the University of Galway and its forerunners: Queen's College, Galway (QCG) created in 1845 as a college of the Queen's University of Ireland; University College, Galway (UCG) chartered in accordance with the Irish Universities Act, 1908 as a university college of the National University of Ireland; and National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway and later NUI Galway without the comma), a constituent university of the National University of Ireland and newly named since the Universities Act, 1997 until 2022.

Politicians

 * Michael D. Higgins - 9th President of Ireland
 * Enda Kenny
 * Eamon Gilmore
 * Frank Fahy
 * Joseph Brennan
 * Séamus Kirk
 * Michael Kitt
 * Pat "the Cope" Gallagher
 * Heather Humphreys
 * Michael Ring
 * Lisa Chambers
 * Barry Cowen
 * Anne Rabbitte
 * Sylvester Barrett
 * Mark Clinton
 * Paul Connaughton Jnr
 * Ciara Conway
 * Rose Conway-Walsh
 * Brendan Griffin
 * Fidelma Healy Eames
 * Jim Higgins
 * Lorraine Higgins
 * Seán Kyne
 * Patrick Lindsay
 * Farrell McElgunn
 * Bobby Molloy
 * Rónán Mullen
 * Ronan Moore
 * Carol Nolan
 * Derek Nolan
 * Maureen O'Carroll
 * Pádraig Ó Céidigh
 * Trevor Ó Clochartaigh
 * John O'Mahony
 * Pat Rabbitte
 * Seán Sherlock
 * Madeleine Taylor-Quinn
 * Mary Upton
 * Pat Upton
 * John Dallat - SDLP politician
 * Aisling Dolan

Government officials

 * Henry Arthur Blake - Governor of Hong Kong (1898-1903)
 * Antony MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell - Colonial Administrator
 * Charles James O'Donnell - Colonial Administrator
 * John Sheehy - Colonial Official
 * William Alfred Browne - Civil servant

Diplomats

 * Noel Dorr
 * Pádraig MacKernan

Law

 * John Atkinson
 * Joseph R. Fisher
 * Mark Heslin, judge of the High Court
 * Likando Kalaluka - Attorney General of Zambia in 2015
 * Walter Lewis
 * Robert McCall
 * John Monroe
 * Thomas O'Shaughnessy
 * Andrew Reed
 * Guy Rutledge
 * Mathilda Twomey - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Seychelles
 * Raymond West - High Court Judge in British India
 * Máire Whelan - Attorney General of Ireland, Judge of the Court of Appeal

Military

 * Major General Michael Beary - UNIFIL Commander
 * General Bindon Blood - British military commander
 * Major General Kieran Brennan - Deputy Chief of Staff (Ops) and former Kilkenny hurler
 * Lieutenant General Sean McCann - Former Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces
 * Vice Admiral Mark Mellett - Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces
 * Brigadier General Maureen O'Brien - First woman to attain the rank of Lt Colonel (Army Line), Colonel and Brig Gen in the Irish Defence Forces
 * Commandant Cathal Berry - Former Deputy Commander of the Army Ranger Wing and Head of the Military Medical School

Religion

 * Samuel Angus - Theologian
 * Brendan Kelly - Bishop
 * Fintan Monahan - Bishop
 * Robert Moore - Theologian
 * Michael Lenihan O.F.M. - Bishop of La Ceiba, Honduras (2011-present)
 * William Mahony S.M.A. - Bishop of Ilorin, Nigeria
 * Wilfrid Napier O.F.M. - Cardinal, Archbishop of Durban
 * William Slattery O.F.M. - Archbishop of Pretoria
 * George Thomas Stokes - Clergyman of the Church of Ireland and Historian

Literature

 * Emily Anderson- Linguist
 * Gerald Dawe - Poet
 * James Hardiman - Librarian
 * Mike McCormack - Writer
 * Eamonn McGrath- Writer
 * Ronan Moore - Writer
 * W. F. Marshall - Poet
 * Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh - Poet
 * Breandán Ó hEithir - Writer
 * Valentine O'Hara

Academics

 * William Bindon Blood - first professor of civil engineering at Queen's College Galway
 * Alexander Anderson (physicist) - Physicist; former president of Queen's College and University College Galway
 * J. E. Cairnes - Economist
 * Louis Cullen - Professor of Irish History at Trinity College
 * Edward Divers - Chemist
 * Charles Joseph Gahan - Coleopterist
 * John Hegarty - Provost of Trinity College Dublin
 * Máire Herbert MRIA – Professor of Early and Medieval Irish at University College Cork
 * Ethna Gaffney - scientist and first female professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
 * Alfred Keogh - Director General Army Medical Services (1905-1910 and 1914-1918)
 * Thomas J. Laffey - Mathematician known for his contributions to group theory and matrix theory.
 * John A. McClelland - Physicist
 * Mick Molloy - IRB medical officer
 * Michael O'Shaughnessy - Chief engineer of San Francisco
 * Alice Perry - First woman in Ireland to graduate with a degree in engineering

Media

 * Patsy McGarry - Journalist
 * Harry McGee - Journalist
 * T. P. O'Connor
 * Frank Hugh O'Donnell
 * Conor Pope - Journalist
 * Cillian Fennell - Former head of programming at TG4 and producer
 * Pat McGrath - Correspondent
 * Colm Murray - Sports-reader
 * Siún Nic Gearailt - Television newsreader
 * Eimear Ní Chonaola - Journalist and television news anchor
 * Sean O'Rourke - Presenter
 * Gráinne Seoige - Television news anchor

Arts

 * Keith Barry - Performing artist
 * Seán McGinley - Actor
 * Nora-Jane Noone - Actress
 * Martin Sheen - Actor
 * Éabha McMahon - Singer
 * Leo Moran - Guitarist
 * John Coll - Figurative sculptor
 * Pádraic Breathnach - Actor, first manager of Galway Arts Centre and co-founder of Macnas
 * John Concannon - Director of "Ireland 2016" (official commemorations of the centenary of the Easter Rising)
 * Garry Hynes - Co-founder Druid Theatre Company
 * Ollie Jennings - Founder of the Galway Arts Festival, co-founder of Macnas;
 * Mick Lally - Co-founder Druid Theatre Company
 * Marie Mullen - Co-founder Druid Theatre Company
 * Nicola Coughlan - Actress

Sports

 * Enda Colleran - Gaelic football
 * Iarfhlaith Davoren - Association football
 * Daithí Burke - Hurling
 * Niall Burke - Hurling
 * Conor Cleary - Hurling
 * Joe Connolly - Hurling
 * Joseph Cooney - Hurling
 * Anthony Cunningham - Hurling
 * Cyril Farrell - Hurling
 * Pat Fleury - Hurling
 * Francis Forde - Hurling
 * John Hanbury - Hurling
 * Aidan Harte - Hurling
 * Conor Hayes - Hurling
 * Seán Loftus - Hurling
 * Jeffrey Lynskey - Hurling
 * Joe McDonagh - Dual player, Gaelic games administrator and 32nd President of the Gaelic Athletic Association
 * Cathal Mannion - Hurling
 * Pádraic Mannion - Hurling
 * Conor Whelan - Hurling
 * Cian Lynch - Hurling
 * Eoghan Clifford - Paralympic cyclist
 * Cormac Folan - Rower
 * Paul Hession - Sprinter
 * Olive Loughnane - Racewalker
 * Neville Maxwell - Rower
 * Ciaran Fitzgerald - Rugby union
 * Fiona Everard - National champion runner

Business

 * Nicky Hartery - Chairman of CRH plc
 * Declan Kelly - Founding partner and co-CEO of Teneo
 * Pádraig Ó Céidigh - Airline developer

Finance and banking

 * John Hourican - Investment banker; former CEO of Bank of Cyprus
 * Seamus McCarthy - Comptroller and Auditor General

Faculty

 * John Breslin - engineering professor and entrepreneur
 * Nicholas Canny - historian and noted authority on early modern Ireland and Britain
 * Ada English - psychiatrist
 * Gerard Jennings - physics professor
 * Thomas Kilroy - playwright, novelist, former Professor of English at the university
 * William King – geologist
 * Joseph Larmor - physicist, Professor at Queen's College Galway 1880-1885 and later Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge
 * Alexander Gordon Melville - Comparative anatomist, Professor at Queen's College Galway 1849-1882
 * George Johnstone Stoney - physicist who introduced the term electron as the "fundamental unit quantity of electricity"; first Professor of Science at the then new university; elder brother of Bindon Blood Stoney
 * D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson - Professor of Greek at UCG from 1862 and father of biologist Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson