Niall O'Dowd

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Niall O'Dowd (born May 18, 1953), journalist and author, is a leading member of the Irish-American community. He was extensively involved in the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement, and is a leading proponent of comprehensive immigration reform.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 References

[edit] Early life

O'Dowd was born in Thurles, County Tipperary in Ireland. After attending Drogheda CBS and Gormanston College, he was a student at University College Dublin, gaining a BA degree in 1977. He emigrated to the United States in June 1979.

[edit] Career

O'Dowd moved to San Francisco where he founded the first new Irish newspaper in California in 50 years, the Irishman Newspaper.^[1]. In 1985, he moved to New York where he founded the Irish America Magazine, the first ever national Irish American magazine.

In 1987, he founded the Irish Voice newspaper^[2], the first successful Irish newspaper in New York since 1928.

In 1991, he was a founder of the Irish Americans for Clinton campaign, supporting candidate Bill Clinton for president. He led an Irish American peace delegation to Northern Ireland after Clinton was elected^[3] and he acted as intermediary between Sinn Féin and the White House at a critical period in the peace process. He played a key role in securing a U.S. visa for Gerry Adams in February 1994. His role was featured in the book Daring Diplomacy by Irish Times journalist Conor O'Clery and also in an Irish Television/PBS documentary entitled An Irish Voice.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, his book Fire in the Morning, about the Irish at the World Trade Center on September 11 attacks, reached number 2 on the Irish best seller list^{[citation needed]}. O'Dowd was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater University College Dublin in 2004^[4].

He was one of the founders of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in 2005^[5], set up to lobby the Congress for comprehensive immigration reform.

O'Dowd was featured on the "People You Should Know" segment of the Paula Zahn Now program on CNN in 2007^[6].In January 2008, he was appointed an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.^{[citation needed]}