Donnchadh Ó Briain (17 November 1897 – 22 September 1981) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and Conradh na Gaeilge activist. He was elected to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

at the 1933 general election. He was born 17 November 1897 in Knockaderry, County Limerick, one of two sons and a daughter of David O'Brien, a creamery manager, and Kathleen O'Brien (née Casey). He was educated at Ahalin national school and then at the Redemptorist College at Mount St Alphonsus, Limerick city, but was prevented from going to university by bouts of ill health. On leaving school he worked in the creamery managed by his father for a number of years. By 1917 he had become involved in the independence movement as a member of Sinn Féin and later, of the West Limerick brigade of the Irish Republican Army. He was involved in the republican courts in Limerick and took the anti-treaty side in the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

. He was deeply involved in the Conradh na Gaeilge, which he also joined in 1917, having been influenced by Fr Tomás de Bhál. In 1920 Ó Briain was appointed Conradh na Gaeilge organiser for County Limerick, and from 1925 he served in that role for all of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

province, founding numerous branches of the league. From 1928 to 1932 he served as general secretary of the Conradh na Gaeilge and also intermittently edited ''Fáinne an Lae''. A founder member of Fianna Fáil in 1926, he stood unsuccessfully in Limerick at the 1932 general election. He served as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick and from 1948 for Limerick West constituencies until 1969 when he retired from politics. He served in the governments of Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass as

Government Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

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