Biography

For biographical information on Francis Martin O'Donnell, see Biography below.  
More detailed information may also be found on Wikipedia or LinkedIn, or via Google search.






Communications:     


chancery@odomhnaill.com,      or           

secretariat@fmodonnell.org 


For further information on the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell,   

click here the blue button:   





Living and Learning:  Not all efforts in life are successful, and many are my failures, either in endeavours or in relationships. One such, was an effort to campaign for a seat in the Irish Senate, Seanad Éireann, in early 2011, in the constituency of the National University of Ireland.  Solidly nominated by a group of trusty friends of long-standing, but living abroad since 1976, it was an improbable task for a Global Irish Diaspora candidate, with no name-recognition amongst the constituency's electorate (graduates of NUI). In the final analysis, the successful Senators for the three seats concerned where all household names in Ireland, two in fact re-elected, and another a frequent radio guest.  Perhaps it was all for the better! Certainly, a learning experience.

Seneschal 

Sovereign Order of Malta 

 Presentation of Credentials

His Excellency, Francis Martin O'Donnell, reviewing the Honour Guard at the Presidency of the Slovak Republic, prior to his presentation of credentials as the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, in December 2009, during which the National Anthem of the Sovereign Order, Ave Crux Alba, was played. For more information, see the tab "Causes" and links to the Sovereign Order of Malta.

NOTE  This website was in fact originally created to facilitate that Irish senate political campaign in 2011.  Your can find the original content of the website by clicking button on right. Please bear in mind that the information including contact details therein, is out of date. 

In service for and to others:  notable moments (click on pics for details)


Above, at a desert Fort in the Wadi Rum in Jordan, when living in the Holy Land in 1965-1967.


On right,  Ambassador Francis Martin O'Donnell, at a Gala Dinner in Dublin Castle on 22 June 2019, wearing neck insignia of Knight Commander of the Equestrian and Most Noble Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the sash of Grand Cross pro Merite Melitense of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and breast stars as the same and also as Papal Knight Commander with Star of Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great, and as Knight Commander of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George as well as several miniatures. He is now the President of the Genealogical Society of Ireland since 12 March 2024, having been so elected by its members


Right:   The Song of the Mad Prince (1917), stained glass, by Harry Clarke (1889-1931).  According to the curated notes of the National Gallery of Ireland, where this small but quaint piece is on display “the subject is derived from the poem of the same included in Walter de la Mare collection Peacock Pie (1913). In Clarke’s panel, the prince, wearing exquisitely embellished, Elizabethan-style clothing, stands in front of his mother and father".   

                                                                 © National Gallery of Ireland.   (Not for commercial use)