The death of Eunan O'Donnell at his home in Dublin recently saw the passing of one of the great pioneers of education in Co Donegal. Indeed, Eunan was the pioneer of secondary school education in the Rosses. When he opened his Ard-Scoil Cholmcille in Dungloe on September 3rd 1956, he was launching a project which generations in the north-west of the county would later have reason to regard with deep gratitude. For without that school in Dungloe, countless young people in the Rosses and beyond - including the present writer - would never have had the opportunity of a secondary education to Leaving Certificate level.
Eunan Paul O'Donnell was born on August 4th, 1923, in the cottage at Roshine near Burtonport - the house that would later become the home of Francie and Mary Breslin and their family. He was the second son of Annie and the late Jimmy Donnchadh Ruadh O'Donnell. Annie, nee Carr, a native of Kilcar, is now in her 106th year. Both Annie and Jimmy were national school teachers and they taught in Meenbanad NS. Meenbanad school, long since closed, was a three-teacher school in those days and Eunan received his primary education there.
From Meenbanad he went to secondary school at St Eunan's in Letterkenny, where a contemporary was the late Neil Blaney. Until the opening of the secondary school in Dungloe in 1956, St Eunan's continued to be one of the few options open to young people in the Rosses, Gweedore and Gloughaneely who might have aspired to a Leaving Cert. education. Sadly, of course, it was, in reality, an option open to a relative few whose parents could afford the fees and the cost of boarding.
From Letterkenny Eunan went to seminary in Maynooth where he studied for a time for the priesthood. He left after three years with a BA Honours degree, obtained his Higher Diploma in Education at UCD and then studied at London University, where he graduated with an MA in classics. After graduation in London he taught at Finchley Grammar School before returning to Donegal to found the secondary school. Shortly after the opening of the school he met Mary Tarpey, a native of Bekan near Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo, who was then teaching in Loughanure Technical School. Mary and Eunan were married in August, 1957.
The new school began with temporary accommodation in the parochial hall and the old tech building nearby. In September 1958 it moved across town to the building that had been Campbell's Hotel on the main street in Dungloe. Only in 1961 did it move to a custom-built school on the chapel road. When the school opened in 1956 there were four teachers: Jimmy and Annie O'Donnell, Eunan's parents, Miss Carr from Gortahork and Eunan himself. There were 36 pupils. By the time the school moved to the new building in 1961 there were over 100 on the roll. The school continued until 1973, when it merged with Loughanure Technical School to form the new Rosses Community School.
By then, scores of young people had passed through the school with intermediate or leaving certificate qualifications. Many had acquired the qualifications necessary for entry to university. Past pupils of the secondary school are to be found in a wide range of the professions from teaching, accountancy, banking, politics, nursing, engineering and dentistry to local government administration and the civil service, some rising to the highest levels.
Eunan had left Donegal the previous year with his family to live in Dublin, where he continued to teach at Gonzaga. But he will always be remembered as the founding headmaster of the Dungloe Secondary School. He was a visionary in the true sense of the word in that he recognised the need to educate young people, many of whom, he felt, were having to leave home without an adequate education.
However, he was first and foremost a distinguished scholar. He had a brilliant mind and possessed a tremendous academic versatility which was reflected in the great breadth of subjects which he taught - Latin, Greek, French, Irish, English, German and Maths to Leaving Cert level and Science to Inter Cert. level. As a person he had a great presence about him; he was a big man who always carried himself well and he was, undoubtedly, a great figure of authority in the school. There was a certain aloofness - often found in academics - but also a great dignity and, I found, unfailing fairness and courtesy in his dealings with his pupils which easily won him the admiration and respect of his school.
Eunan is survived by his wife Mary, their children Kieran, Adrian, Pauline, Murial, Raymond, Declan and Eithne; his mother Annie; and his brothers and sisters Brendan, Kevin, Kieran, Crona and Eithne.
Go ndeana Dia a mhaith ar a anam uasal.
P.J.F.