Veronica Guerin, Éamon de Valera, Roy Keane, Ned Kelly and the transformation of Seán MacBride from "terrorist into statesman" will be the subject of a conference on the Irish hero in NUI Galway this week.
Billed as the first such gathering of its type in Ireland, the conference will also discuss whether Diarmuid and Gráinne were "star-crossed lovers" or "gun-toting gangsters" during the two-day programme.
The conference organisers say that over 25 invited international speakers will take a broad approach.
"It is not simply the heroes themselves that are under discussion," Dr Mike Cronin, visiting Leverhulme Fellow at NUI Galway's Centre for Irish Studies, said. "The various ways in which they have been represented - through film, in literature and during public commemorations and spectacles - will all be assessed."
Among the speakers is Ms Maria Moynihan, chief executive of the Dublin St Patrick's Festival, who will discuss how the most famous national hero is packaged and sold each year.
Landslide barriers demanded
Demands for kinetic barriers to protect against further landslides in the Pulathomas/Glengad/Inver area of north-west Mayo are being stepped up by the Dooncarton Landslide Committee.
More than 450 signatures have been collected.
Landslide committee chairman, Mr Gerard McDonnell, said the barriers are essential to "bring the area back to as much normality as possible".
The committee is calling on the Government and Mayo County Council to have the barriers erected immediately.
A number of families have been unable to return to their homes since the devastating landslides last September 19th. According to Mr McDonnell some have gone back into homes which are in the high-risk area.
He said: "People are aware of the dangers but are also tired of being out of their residences.
"This is completely understandable but at the same time it raises the level of urgency in which the mountain needs to be secured from any future landslides."
Call to separate M3 contract
The National Roads Authority has been asked to separate the contract for the first phase of the M3 motorway in Meath from the rest of the 60-kilometre scheme, so that work on the route between Clonee and Dunshaughlin can begin.
The call was made by Meath county councillor Mr Brian Fitzgerald (Ind), who said concerns about the second stage, which will pass through the Tara/Skryne valley, should not be used to hold up the first section of the road.