New Domhnall Ua Buachalla biography launched

A new book reflecting on the life of nationalist and politician Domhnall Ua Buachalla has been launched by writer Tim Pat Coogan.

The biography Domhnall Ua Buachalla – Rebellious Nationalist, Reluctant Governor was written by retired journalist Adhamhnán Ó Súilleabháin, who worked as a sports editor at both the Sunday Press and the Sunday Independent.

Ua Buachalla was a cultural nationalist, Gaelic Leaguer and friend of Pádraig Pearse who became an Irish Volunteer leader in north Kildare.

The book describes how he armed the men of Maynooth and led them on foot to the GPO on Easter Monday, 1916, where they took their orders from Pearse and James Connolly.

Internment

Ua Buachalla was interned in Frongoch in Wales and returned home to win a seat in the first Dáil for North Kildare.

He was later arrested for his anti-Treaty activities during the Civil War and went to prison in Dundalk, but escaped when Frank Aiken dynamited the jail.

He was a Fianna Fáil TD from 1927 to 1932 and reluctantly became the last governor general, at the request of Éamon De Valera, in 1932.

He died in 1963, aged 97. Buckley’s Lane, in Maynooth, the site of his family hardware shop, is named after him.