Public Life - Politics & Society
John George Adair
Neil T. Blaney
Joe Brennan
Cormac Breslin
Isaac Butt
John Doherty
Paddy 'the Cope' Gallagher
John Pitt Kennedy
Hugh A. Law
John Pentland Mahaffy
'Pa' O'Donnell
In 1857 the Glenveagh estate was bought by John George Adair,
the son of a gentleman farmer from Laois. He had stood for Parliament as a Tenants’
Rights candidate, and had been described in the Young Ireland newspaper The Nation
in 1847 as "a cultured young squire".
His tenants in Glenveagh would have found it difficult to recognise
this description, or put any credence in his support for Tenants’ Rights, for they
saw a very different Adair within a short time of his arrival. One of his first acts was
to build a police barracks, and within three years he was in full scale conflict with his
tenants. A series of increasingly serious events, culminated in the murder of Adair’s
steward, James Murray. Adair evicted all of the tenants, despite opposition from many
quarters, including local press, and local Catholic and Protestant clergy. After his
widow’s death in 1921 the estate passed through a succession of owners, until it was
bought by Henry McIlhenny, a Philadelphian millionaire whose grandfather came from
Carrigart. He sold it to the state in 1975. Adair built Glenveagh Castle, completed in
1873, in a vaguely Scottish baronial style. This is now the focal point of Glenveagh
national Park.
the most important political figure in post-independence Donegal,
succeeded his father Neal Blaney as TD for Donegal at a by-election in 1948, on his
father's death, and held his seat at every subsequent election until his own death in
1995. He was born in 1922 and educated at Tamney NS in Fanad, and St Eunan’s College
in Letterkenny. Blaney came from an area steeped in Fenianism and republcianism and his
father Neal was one of the founders of Fianna Fáil in Donegal, who was himself elected to
Dáil Éireann in 1927. Neil Blaney, who was a member of Donegal County Council from 1948
to 1957, was appointed as Minister for Posts & Telegraphs in 1957, and as Minister for
Local Government later that year. He distinguished himself in that post until 1966,
introducing the first planning legislation in the history of the state, and setting up the
process which led to the Buchanan Report, which foreshadowed the more recent National
Spatial Strategy. He was appointed Minister for Agriculture in 1966 by Jack Lynch TD, the
Taoiseach who sacked him in 1970 during the Arms Crisis. He was arrested and charged in
connection with the illegal importation of arms but the charges were dismissed before
coming to a full trial.
From 1971 Neil Blaney campaigned under the banner of ‘Independent
Fianna Fáil’. As well as retaining his Dáil seat, he was elected as a Member of the
European Parliament for Connacht-Ulster in 1979-1984 and 1989-1994. He obtained what was
then the highest vote at the 1979 European elections. He also campaigned for Bobby Sands
and Sands’ successor Owen Carron in the ‘hunger-strike’ elections for
Fermanagh-West Tyrone. He had a lifelong interest in soccer, and was President of the FAI
in 1968-1973. After a period of illness he died on 8th November 1995, and was
buried in his local graveyard in Fanad.
a TD for almost 30 years, was born in Croagh near Dunkineely in 1913.
He was an accomplished footballer and played for the County team. He was first elected to
the Dail in 1951 and was re-elected at every subsequent election until his death in 1980.
He was appointed Parliamentry Secretary to the Minister for Finance 1958-61 and to the
Taoiseach 1961-65. He was Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1965-66 and for Social
Welfare from 1966-69. After the 1969 election he was appointed Minister for Labour and
Social Welfare until 1973. Following Fianna Fail’s return to power in 1977 he was
elected Ceann Comhairle, a post he held until his death.
was born in Bun Beag in 1902. He attended school locally and at St.
Eunan’s College. He was first elected to Dail Eireann in 1937 and was successful at
every subsequent election he fought. He was elected Ceann Comhairle in 1968 and so was
returned without having to seek election in 1969 and 1973. He retired from the Dail in
1977 and died in 1978.
was born on 6th September, 1813 in Glenfin, the son of a Church of
Ireland clergyman and grew up there, before receiving his education at Midleton College in
East Cork, and in Trinity College, Dublin. As a young man he shared the outlook of his
class, but as he grew older the failure of the Act of Union to benefit the people of his
native Donegal, and of most other parts of the country began to make him rethink his
political, social and economic views. He was appointed Professor of Political Economy in
TCD in 1836, and called to the bar in 1838. He was influenced by the Young Irelanders whom
he knew in Dublin and by the destruction wrought by the Famine. As a barrister he defended
many nationalists after the rising of 1848. First elected to Parliament in 1852 for
Harwich, he sat for Youghal (1852-1865) and later Limerick (1871-1879), and founded the
Home Rule Party in 1870, leading it until his death on 5th May 1879, when he was succeeded
by Parnell. His remains were brought back to the protestant graveyard in Stranorlar. He
was acknowledged as a gifted parliamentarian, winning 50% of the vote in the 1874 election
in Ireland.
Butt’s life and political actions reflect the change in Ireland
in the nineteenth century. The mass of the people appeared defenceless in the face of the
Famine in the decade leading up to his election as MP. By the time of his death a strong
nationalist movement had emerged, in part because of his astute leadership, which
eventually led to independence a generation after his death.
was born in Buncrana in 1799. By 1814 he was working in a cotton mill
in Larne. He moved to Manchester and by 1819 was leader of the Cotton Spinners Union
there. He was jailed that year for his trade union activities. In 1829 he organised all
cotton spinners into one body - the Grand General Union of United Kingdom, later attempted
to organise all trades in Britain into one Union. In 1831 he started a weekly paper Voice
of the People to spread his views. He was a committed trade unionist and an advocate
of Owenite co-operation, believing in co-operate self-employment once workers became
organised. He died in 1854.
was born on Christmas Day 1873 at Cleendra near Dungloe. The eldest of
nine children he was hired out at Strabane hiring fair at the age of 10. At 16 he went to
Scotland and then England labouring and coal mining. Having married in Scotland he made
his first contact with co-operativism, and soon had enough savings to buy a farm at
Cleendra. This began his life’s work as one of the pioneers of the co-operative
movement in Ireland. Inspired by George Russell, he set up the Templecrone co-op (the
Cope) in 1906 to provide staple goods for the local people.
The Cope met with opposition from local merchants, but it continued to
expand its activities into woven and knitted goods, gloves and electricity supply, and
directly exported goods to UK and US. Paddy the Cope’s autobiography ‘My
Story’ was published in 1939. He died in 1964.
was born in Carndonagh on 8th May, 1796. He received his early
education in Derry before joining the British Army as an engineer. He returned to Ireland
in 1831. In 1837 he was appointed Inspector General for national education, to improve the
quality of instruction in agriculture. Despite impressive plans, including the
establishment of a model farm in Glasnevin, he resigned after two years because of lack of
official support for what he was attempting to achieve. After 10 more years in various
positions in Ireland, he was recommissioned in the army to build a military highway in the
north of India. He was a founding director of the Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian
Railway. He returned to England in 1852 where he died in 1879.
was born in c.1874, the son of a barrister who was later Lord
Chancellor of Ireland. He was educated in England before being called to the Irish and
later English bars. He represented West Donegal as a Nationalist M.P. from 1902 to 1918.
His home in Donegal was in Marble Hill where he was frequently host to political figures
and artists including Horace Plunkett, Jack B. Yeats, G.K. Chesterton and George Russell (AE).
He was defeated in the 1923 election, standing for the Farmer’s Party but won a seat
in both 1927 elections as a Cumann na nGaeldheal TD. He lost his seat in 1932.
although born in Switzerland (26th February, 1839), was brought up in
his parents’ home in Donegal. He went to TCD in 1855 beginning a life long
association with the college. He was elected a Fellow in 1864 and Professor of Ancient
History 1869-1899. He was an expert on Greek social life and civilisation, and deciphered
the ancient Egyptian papyri discovered by Petrie. He was President of the RIA 1911-1916.
He advocated a Swiss-type federal constitution for Ireland at the Irish Convention in 1917
(presided over by another Donegal man, Cardinal O’Donnell). He was made Provost of
TCD in 1914 and died in office in 1919.
was born on 21st August 1907 in Drogheda, but grew up in Burtonport.
After education locally in Meenmore and Meenamara National Schools (where his teacher was
Seamus O Grianna) and in St. Eunan’s College he studied law, becoming a solicitor in
1929, with an office in Dungloe. He was elected as a Fine Gael TD at a by-election in
1949, representing West Donegal. He retained his seat at the 1951,1954,1957,1961,1965 and
1969 elections. He was Minister for Local Government in the 1954-57 inter-party
government. Despite holding ministerial office he is best remembered in the Rosses and
Gaoth Dobhair for his work as a solicitor, and he was recognised as an accomplished
courtroom practitioner. He died in October, 1970.
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