8 Irish nepo babies to begrudge for their successes

Fiona Frawley

the gleeson brothers and their dad, Brendan

In the year of our lord 2022, no nepo baby was safe from the wrath of the sleuthing public.

Lily Collins, Dakota Johnson, Zoë Kravitz and many more were outed in New York Magazine’s who’s who of nepotism babies, and recently it seems like famous family connections are the talk of the proverbial online town.

Some nepo infants have fought back, with Lily Allen arguing nepo babies are being scapegoated and that there are “wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality, about lack of programs and funding”.

I do feel that nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here though, there is a wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality, about lack of programs and funding, and I guess that was the point I was trying to make, maybe badly.

— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) December 20, 2022

So how do nepo babies fare on Irish soil? Are they usually heirs to substantial farming estates, and children of school principals that end up in cushy civil service jobs as opposed to red carpet-bound celebrities?

The short answer is yes. There aren’t quite as many celeb nepo babies here in comparison to the Hollywood Hills, but we’ve still done a bit of investigating and come up with as many as we can.

The Hewsons

Most of us will know this one; Eve Hewson of Bad Sisters fame and Elijah Hewson, lead singer of Inhaler are the offspring of U2 frontman Bono. Eve was only ragin’ not to have been included in the Vulture article, so we’re giving her a shoutout here.

https://twitter.com/EveHewson/status/1605232856426479616?s=20&t=ecTQzq5iZ1L_MbmS-37eOg

Danny O’Reilly (of the Coronas)

Coronas frontman Danny may have benefitted from his family connections – his mam is iconic Irish folk singer Mary Black.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmHxguFteYY/

Rosanna Davison

Actress, model, Miss World Winner and all-round hottie Rosanna Davison is the daughter of Lady in Red singer Chris De Burgh.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmM1bs9M1wx/

Jack Keating

It’s hard to say if Love Island’s Jack Keating has benefitted from nepotism just yet (he was only in the villa for a minute or two, poor pet), but he’s the son of Ronan Keating anyway.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cflk-3bMWBe/

Sineád Cusack

Prolific stage actor Sineád Cusack is the daughter of actors Maureen Cusack and Cyril Cusack. Side note, she’s Richard Boyd Barrett’s birth mother – he was adopted as a baby.

The Gleeson Brothers

Domhnall and Brian Gleeson of Harry Potter and Bad Sisters fame are the sons of multi award-winning actor Brendan Gleeson.

We didn’t venture into the world of politics, and no doubt there are plenty we missed out on. Let us know of any juicy nepo connections you’re aware of, and we’ll add em to the list.

Sick and tired of being called a nepo baby because my Dad is also in the public eye. I have worked hard for everything I have. pic.twitter.com/C7Zn1EcPMN

— Michael Fry (@BigDirtyFry) December 20, 2022