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Tom O’Donnell, one of the last survivors of the government led by Liam Cosgrave, had died.
r O’Donnell, a native of Limerick, was an important figure in Irish public life for 30 years, and was one of two surviving links in a Fine Gael-Labor coalition led by Liam Cosgrave from 1973 to 1977. The last surviving member of Mr. Cosgrave’s “government of all talents” is Patrick Cooney of Westmeath, a former Justice Minister.
Against all odds, Tom O’Donnell overcame the profound deafness and the resulting speech difficulties to forge a highly successful career in politics.
At 94, he was a successful TD, MEP and Minister, who continued with considerable voluntary community service long after his retirement from electoral politics in June 1989. A charming and generous man, he was popular with colleagues and rivals of all. the parties. and he brought a genuine concern for people and communities to his politics.
Tom O’Donnell hailed from East Limerick and had a long tradition of involvement in politics. His paternal grandfather was an Earth League activist who was imprisoned for a time, and his mother’s brother, Dick O’Connell, was an IRA leader in the War of Independence who later served as TD Cumann na nGaedhal .
After school at Cappamore National School, CBS Charleville, Crescent College in Limerick City, and studying St Patrick’s College, Thurles and UCD, he became a teacher in Dublin. He then returned to his parents’ home in Dromin, near Kilmallock, where he devoted himself to local activism and politics.
She worked for the pioneering community organization Muntir na Tíre and for a time edited their magazine, Landmark. In 1961 Fine Gael TD was elected by Limerick East, occupying that seat in eight subsequent general elections.
In February 1973 he was expected to be appointed a member of Liam Cosgrave’s cabinet, but the surprise was that he was appointed Gaeltacht minister. At 46 he had to quickly relearn Irish, a subject he had not studied since he was in high school.
He was highly successful in re-mastering the language and soon became known as a dynamic minister who visited every corner of Gaeltacht and the coastal islands, and sought to expand departmental boundaries for further regional development. He was lampooned as “Tom the Scholar” on Frank Hall’s current affairs television show, “Hall’s Pictoral Weekly,” which accurately described him as studious and thoughtful.
When Garret FitzGerald took over the leadership of Fine Gael in 1977, Tom O’Donnell was among a group that fell from grace. He successfully turned his attention to the European Parliament, where he made his mark for 10 years among the Christian Democratic group and at the same time held a seat in the Dáil.
In February 1987 he was among a group of 19 Fine TDs who lost their seats when newly formed Progressive Democrats swept the country. In June 1989, after having participated in seven elections in just 10 years, he admitted that he had exhausted himself and retired from elected politics.
But he continued for several more decades to work on local projects and was awarded a special award for this by the Limerick County Council in 2001 and the Limerick City Council in 2005. O’Donnell is survived by his wife, Helen, and their son, Thomas. .
Online editors
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