John O'Donnell

Who was John O'Donnell?

John O’Donnell was an Irish journalist, Nationalist politician and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom House of Commons from 1900 to 1910.

He first became active in politics as an organiser for the United Irish League in County Mayo during 1898–89 as a protégé of William O'Brien .

In the 1900 general election, O’Donnell was elected as MP for South Mayo, succeeding the Irish Parliamentary Party MP Michael Davitt, who had resigned his seat in protest against the Boer War. O’Donnell represented a newer generation of nationalist politicians. He became national secretary of the UIL, and remained loyal to William O’Brien even after O’Brien’s resignation from the IPP in 1903, trying to orchestrate his return to the party. He was rewarded for this by the deputy leader of the IPP, John Dillon arranging at the next UIL convention in 1904, O’Donnell’s replacement by his closest ally Joseph Devlin MP of Belfast, a first IPP move in gaining control of O’Brien’s UIL.

O’Donnell bought the machinery of O’Briens closed down newspaper, the Irish People, moved to Galway and there set up the Connaught Champion.