The ultimate proof of "making it" in Ireland is an entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography (also known as the DIB). Published in a nine-volume set in 2009, the DIB was the result of a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy and Cambridge University Press.  It covers 9700 lives in 9014 articles. An online version is updated periodically to include those who died after 2002.

To have a biography published in the DIB, one had to be born in Ireland or spend a significant part of one's career there plus make a mark in a field of human endeavor such as: politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment and sport. Is the name of one of your ancestors included in the DIB? You can do a surname search at  http://dib.cambridge.org.