In its summary of their article 'Who were the Celts?' the National Museum Wales note "It is possible that future genetic studies of ancient and modern human DNA may help to inform our understanding of the subject.
1.1 Prehistoric and legendary ancestors.The largest number of people of Irish descent live in the United States-about ten times more than in Ireland itself. An estimated 80 million people make up the Irish diaspora today, which includes Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Germany and Brazil. Historically, emigration has been caused by politics, famine and economic issues. Large populations of people of Irish ethnicity live in many western countries, particularly in English-speaking countries. Some of the 20th century writers in the Irish language include Brian O'Nolan (aka Flann O'Brien), Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Pádraic Ó Conaire, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig Sayers, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin and Máirtín Ó Direáin. Notable Irish writers in the English language include Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, Flann O'Brien, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney. Until the end of the early modern period, the majority of educated Irish were proficient at both speaking and writing in Latin and Greek. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides while an Irishman was also the first to set foot on American soil in Columbus' expedition of 1492. Famous Irish explorers include Brendan the Navigator, Ernest Shackleton, and Tom Crean. The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the "father of chemistry". The 6th century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe", followed by Kilian of Würzburg and Vergilius of Salzburg.
There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. Welsh, Picts, Bretons, and small parties of Gauls and even Anglo-Saxons are known in Ireland from much earlier times. The Anglo-Norman invasion of the High Middle Ages, the English plantations and the subsequent English rule of the country introduced the Normans and Flemish into Ireland. The main groups that interacted with the Irish in the Middle Ages include the Scottish people and the Vikings, with the Icelanders especially having some Irish descent. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years (according to archaeological studies), with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded have legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians the last group supposedly representing the "pure" Gaelic ancestry, and still serving as a term for the Irish race today. The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaedhil) are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. * Around 800,000 Irish born people reside in Britain, with around 14,000,000 people claiming Irish ancestry. Roman Catholicism (majority), Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Methodismīretons, Cornish, Manx, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, English, Welsh