Was it Riley or Raleigh?

The Irish are fond of referring to a life of ease as the "Life of Riley" but are they really talking about Sir Walter Raleigh? I really have no idea. I never thought about this before. I never thought of myself as living an easy sort of life, myself being for one thing neither Irish to any overwhelmingly great degree nor male so the saying does not apply to me. And even if I did have an easy life, who is to say I enjoyed it at all when the entire time I was forced to pay for it with money I did not have, at the sacrifice of all personal relationships, career achievements, and any other dignity of a human sort, always forced to wallow in feelings of guilt and remorse that I am not allowed to dismiss as if I were a dog being trained by a slave master? I rather think that Reilly's opinion would thus be entirely irrelevant and not applicable to my circumstances and I see less reason than ever to feel sorry for these little chatterbox monsters. Anyway, even though Raleigh's gestures curried great favor with the queen he was beheaded later so maybe there is really nothing to worry about.