Did the Irish Save Western Civilization?

In a bold thesis Thomas Cahill argues that it was the monks of Ireland copying and saving the treasures of the western world that prevented the complete elimination of learning after the fall of the Roman Empire. This knowledge was brought back to Western Europe through the work of Irish monks who traveled throughout Europe and put their mark on the Medieval period, allowing Christian Europe to flourish. While true in broad strokes, we can look a little more closely at philosophical and theological development and examine the further foundations of Medieval thought in Western Europe.