 The first commemorative , a set of three Daniel O 'Connell stamps , appeared on 22 June 1929 . Until the mid @-@ 1990s , with only three exceptions in 1943 , 1977 and 1979 for Douglas Hyde , Louis le Brocquy and Pope John Paul II respectively , it was policy to not depict living persons . This policy has been put aside and since 1995 there have been several such issues , mainly depicting athletes ; for instance 30 stamps were issued showing living Irish sportsmen for the Millennium and several golfers are shown on three 2006 Ryder Cup stamps . 
