Gerry Adams (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála (TD) for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern Ireland and the largest nationalist party. From the late 1980s onwards, Adams was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, initially following contact by the then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and subsequently with the Irish and British governments and then other parties. In 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) indicated that its armed campaign was over and that it is now exclusively committed to democratic politics. Under Adams, Sinn Féin changed its traditional policy of abstentionism towards Oireachtas Éireann, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, in 1986 and later took seats in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly. However, Sinn Féin retains a policy of abstentionism towards the Westminster Parliament, but since 2002, receives allowances for staff and takes up offices in the House of Commons.

Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and has been the Taoiseach since 2011. He has led Fine Gael since 2002. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice President of the European People's Party.

Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil.

Kenny led Fine Gael in the 2011 general election. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Labour Party and formed a coalition government on 9 March 2011. He is Fine Gael's first Taoiseach since John Bruton from 1994 to 1997, and the first Fine Gael leader to win government in an election since Garret FitzGerald in 1982.

Enda Kenny was born in the village of Islandeady near Castlebar, County Mayo in 1951, the third child of five. He was educated locally at St. Patrick's National School in Cornanool and St. Gerald's College (De La Salle) in Castlebar. Kenny subsequently attended St Patrick's College of Education in Dublin and University College Galway. He briefly worked as a primary school teacher, and is a Gaeilgeoir.

Marian Finucane (born 1950) is an Irish broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She has worked with the national broadcaster since in 1976, starting as a continuity announcer. She was the first presenter of Liveline. She currently presents The Marian Finucane Show at weekend lunchtimes on RTÉ Radio 1.

Marian Finucane was born in Dublin and educated at Scoil Chaitríona, and the College of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin. She practised as an architect until 1974 when she joined RTÉ as a continuity announcer, having been recruited by Eoghan Harris. In 1976 she became a programme presenter working mainly on programmes concerned with contemporary social issues, especially those concerning women, in particular Women Today.

Finucane in 1979 was the recipient of a Jacobs' Award for Women Today. Her Liveline programme on radio, a combined interview and phone-in chat show on weekday afternoons. She won Radio Journalist of the Year Award in 1988.

Her television work included information programming on RTÉ such as "Consumer Choice" and the Garda investigation programme Crime Line.

Anthony Ward Clare (24 December 1942 – 28 October 2007) was an Irish psychiatrist well known in the UK and Ireland as a presenter of radio and TV programmes.

Clare was born in Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland and educated at Gonzaga College. In 1966, he graduated from University College, Dublin (UCD) where he was an auditor of the Literary and Historical Society. During his time in UCD, he won the 1964 Observer Mace debating competition, speaking in a team with Patrick Cosgrave. Following initial training in psychiatry at St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, he moved to the Institute of Psychiatry at The Maudsley Hospital, in London where he studied under Professor Michael Shepherd. Clare held a doctorate in medicine and a master's degree in philosophy, and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Author of several popular books on psychiatry, Clare held the positions of Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin and Medical Director of St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin. He was due to retire from his current post as Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist at St. Edmundsbury Hospital in Lucan, County Dublin when he died suddenly of a heart attack in Paris at the age of 64.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father). Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades.