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Rockwell College ( Irish: Coláiste Charraig an Tobair), founded in 1864, is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school near Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland.

The school has a rugby tradition and has won the Munster Schools Senior Cup 26 times and the Munster Schools Junior Cup 20 times. Rockwell is run by the Spiritans. Its list of former pupils and teachers includes two Presidents of Ireland.

History

Rockwell College was founded in 1864 by two Spiritan priests (also known as the Holy Ghost Fathers) to provide education to the sons of Roman Catholics during a time when Penal Laws were still in place against the Catholic majority in Ireland. ^[2]

Rockwell College played an important role in the development of the Irish State in the several prominent figures of the Irish Revolutionary period taught at or attended the school. Éamon de Valera taught mathematics there as a young teacher and fellow 1916 Proclamation signatory Thomas MacDonagh attended as a pupil. In 1964 as part of the centenary celebrations President Éamon de Valera returned to the school, 60 years after he taught there. ^[3]

In 1997, Pat O'Sullivan became Rockwell's first lay principal, and in 2012 Audrey O'Byrne became the college's first female principal. ^[4]

Sister schools

• Blackrock College
• St Michael's College, Dublin
• St Mary's College, Dublin
• Templeogue College, Dublin

Notable past pupils

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (February 2023)

Politics

• Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland 1976–1990
• Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach and President of Ireland 1959-1973, was a mathematics teacher at the school.
• Fionán Lynch, Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, TD from 1918 to 1944, Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1938 to 1939 and Government Minister from 1922 to 1932
• Michael Ahern, former Junior Minister for Industry and Commerce and former TD for Cork East
• Tadhg Crowley, Irish revolutionary and Fianna Fáil Senator and TD for Limerick
• Henry Barniville, Senator and Professor of Anatomy in University College Dublin
• Andrew Boylan, former Fine Gael TD for Cavan–Monaghan
• Ruairí Brugha, Fianna Fáil TD, Senator and MEP
• Maurice Manning, Chancellor of National University of Ireland, former Fine Gael Senator and President of the Irish Human Rights Commission
• Enda Marren, Fine Gael trustee and Member of Irish Council of State
• Seán McCarthy, former Minister of State for Finance and Technology
• William Quirke, former Fianna Fáil Senator and Tipperary IRA leader during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.
• Denis Jones, Fine Gael TD for Limerick West, 1957-1977, and Leas-Ceann Comhairle
• Thomas Walsh, former Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow–Kilkenny
• James John O'Shee, former member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, MP for the constituency of West Waterford (1895-1918) and co-founder of the Irish Land & Labour Association.
• Garret Ahearn, Fine Gael Member of Seanad Eireann.

Legal

• John L. Murray, former Chief Justice of Ireland, former judge of the Irish Supreme Court, former judge of the European Court of Justice, former Attorney General of Ireland, and former Chancellor of the University of Limerick
• Maurice Collins, Judge of the Supreme Court
• John Rogers, former Attorney General of Ireland between 1984-1987
• David Keane, Judge of the High Court
• Mark Heslin, Judge Of the High Court
• Fionán Lynch, former Judge of the Circuit Court, 1944-1959

Business

• Richie Boucher, Chairman at CRH plc
• Brody Sweeney, CEO of O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars and Fine Gael candidate in 2007 election
• Harry Crosbie, Developer of Point Village
• Bernie Cahill, former Chairman of Aer Lingus and Greencore

Sport

• Mick English, Irish rugby international
• Willie Duggan, Irish rugby international
• Gabriel Fulcher, Irish rugby international
• Mick Fitzgibbon, Irish rugby international
• Gary Halpin, Irish rugby international
• Jack Clarke, Irish rugby international
• Denis Leamy, Irish rugby international
• John Fogarty, rugby international
• JJ Hanrahan, Connacht rugby player
• Diarmuid Barron, Munster rugby player
• Brian Gleeson, Munster rugby player
• Paddy Butler, rugby player
• Michael Dargan, cricketer and rugby player
• Denis Fogarty, rugby player
• Mark Melbourne, rugby player
• Paul McNaughton, manager of the Irish rugby team
• Walter Swinburn, jockey, who won 8 British Classics, including the 1981 Derby with Shergar
• Pat McGrath, hurler
• Conor Sweeney, Tipperary Gaa Football Captain, Winning the 2020 Munster Football Championship

Clergy

• Michael Browne
• Pádraig de Brún, former president of National University of Ireland, Galway
• Denis Fahey
• Henry Aloysius Gogarty
• Aengus Finucane, former chief executive of Concern Worldwide, was a teacher
• Jack Finucane
• Archbishop James Leen, Bishop of Port Louis, Mauritius.
• John Joseph McCarthy

Others

• John Francis Crowley, Irish revolutionary and hunger striker
• John J. Collins, Biblical scholar, was a Spiritan for nine years, professor in Yale
• John M. Feehan, author and publisher
• Thomas MacDonagh - poet, teacher and co-leader of 1916 Rising, for which he was executed.
• Colm Mangan - former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces,
• Pádraic Ó Conaire, writer
• Liam O'Flaherty, writer
• Kevin Roche, architect
• Gabriel Rosenstock, writer

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rockwell College.

• Rockwell College
• Rockwell College Union

52°27′33″N 7°53′37″W / 52.4592°N 7.8936°W / 52.4592; -7.8936