There are few Irish cardinals – only Cardinal Sean Brady and Cardinal Desmond Connell.
However, there are no fewer than 18 cardinals of Irish origin alive today.
In addition to Cardinals Brady and Connell, they are Cardinals Raymond Burke (US), Edward Cassidy (Australia), Edward Clancy (Australia), Thomas Collins (Canada), Timothy Dolan (US), Edward Egan (US), Francis George (US), William Keeler (US), James Stafford (US), Roger Mahony (US), Theodore McCarrick (US), Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (UK), Edwin O'Brien (US), Keith O'Brien (UK), Sean O'Malley (US) and George Pell (Australia).
All have either Irish parents, or grandparents.
Half of the 18 are young enough to vote in the Conclave.
There is, therefore, still a vestige of Irish spirituality left in the global Catholic Church.