Himself. Daddy Donoghue<\/b><\/p>\n
James Durney<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the great local characters in bygone Naas was Michael J. \u2018Daddy\u2019 O\u2019Donoghue. Daddy is featured in Timmy Conway\u2019s hilarious book Characters<\/i>. Timmy wrote: \u2018In an age before television, local politics and local politicians fulfilled the function of entertainment and were a great source of \u2018craic\u2019 and amusement. Of course local politicians dealt with serious matters and accomplished much for the community. But many of them also had the great ability not to take themselves seriously. There was considerable respect in those days for the well-crafted insult or barbed witticism or crushing piece of repartee \u2013 even if you were on the receiving end.\u2019<\/p>\n
Daddy O\u2019Donoghue was certainly capable of witticisms and was at heart a great entertainer. He had advertisements placed in his gents drapery shop-front window like: \u2018Daddy\u2019s trousers down again!\u2019 \u2013 advertising that his prices of men\u2019s trousers, obviously, were down \u2013 and \u2018Cheer up. Bring your coupons to O\u2019Donoghue Himself. The Tailoring Expert at Naas. Note address: \u201cThe Suit King,\u201d Naas.\u2019 He was mainly known as Daddy Donoghue.<\/p>\n
Born in Naas in 1886, Michael J. O\u2019Donoghue was always keen to say he was a native of the town and not a \u2018whistler\u2019 or a \u2018blow-in,\u2019 names commonly given to non-locals. He lived with his wife, Bridget, a local nurse and midwife, in a private residence some distance from\u00a0his shop, at Victoria Terrace, off the Sallins Road. A man of nationalist leanings\u00a0O’Donoghue served on the Standing Committee of Sinn F\u00e9in for several years \u2013 along with fellow Kildaremen, Seamus Mitchell, Naas, and Michael Sheehan, Newbridge \u2013 and was a prominent member of the Gaelic League. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland. Despite being a member of Sinn F\u00e9in and Fianna Fail, for most of his political career O\u2019Donoghue served on the Naas Urban District Council (UDC) as an Independent candidate.<\/p>\n
Proposed by Margaret Rafferty and seconded by Patrick Nestor he was first elected to the UDC in 1925. The 1925 local election was a politician\u2019s dream come true. No ballot was required as only nine candidates went forward and the town clerk, Joe Boyle, declared them all elected. There had been ten candidates for the nine seats until the outgoing chairman, Mr. D. J. Purcell, withdrew from the contest. \u00a0In the 1928 elections O\u2019Donoghue ran as a Fianna Fail candidate. He was proposed by Dr. Joseph P. Williams and seconded by Rev. Patrick Kearney, C.C.<\/p>\n
His premises at 37 North Main Street was gutted by a fire in 1925.\u00a0 The draper\u2019s shop, which was located at North Main Street was formerly a widow\u2019s home and latterly an ESB office, later \u2018Celtic Bookmakers,\u2019 and is again a clothes shop, \u2018Happy Days.\u2019 Every year, about three weeks before Christmas, O\u2019Donoghue converted his gents\u2019 outfitters to a toy shop. In the evenings, at 6 pm, he held a penny raffle for a small toy, but ended the practice after remarks about taking pennies from children. Other sources said the raffle was deemed illegal and was stopped by the Garda.<\/p>\n
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939 Naas UDC had plans approved for the building of ten houses at the Military Barracks. The building contractor declined the contract he said \u2018in consequence of the war and its effect on prices\u2019, prompting Daddy to reply: \u2018We seem to be taking the war far too seriously. We seem to imagine the bombers overhead already. I think we should take off our coats and get down to this problem of building more houses. There are 120 houses to be built here\u2026\u2019 The tender was re-advertised and given to a Dublin builder at a slightly lower price. Housing conditions in the town at the time were atrocious and O\u2019Donoghue said he visited one house which had so much water in it he needed \u2018a boat to sail around the kitchen\u2019.<\/p>\n
When a new scheme of houses, built on the Rathasker Road, was to be named the local Labour Party branch proposed to name it Connolly Square after James Connolly, the 1916 leader. Another councilor proposed to name the scheme \u2018Coalition Terrace,\u2019 but Councilor O\u2019Donoghue said it was customary to give the parish priest the honour of naming the houses, if he so deserved, and it was decided to continue with that custom. Fr. Doyle, P.P., named the new estate \u2018St. Conleth\u2019s Place,\u2019 after Conleth, the first bishop of Kildare.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donoghue ran his own election campaign with the help of a few friends and was elected every time he ran. His election posters and advertisements had sayings like: \u2018Your candidate on Merit. He\u2019s worth it. O\u2019Donoghue is for the workers \u2026 is a businessman \u2026 is an energetic man \u2026 won\u2019t be muzzled \u2026 is the Ratepayers\u2019 Watch Dog \u2026 is no Yes Man \u2026 is Your Man \u2026 Say it with votes.\u2019 His election profile in the Leinster Leader<\/i>, 15 August 1942, said:<\/p>\n
\u2018M. J. O\u2019Donoghue. Victoria, Tce. Naas draper and merchant. Proposed by James McHugh; seconded by P. J. Farrington. Has been actively associated with the National Movement for many years, and is on the Executive of the Sinn Fein organization and the National Graves Association. He has been a member of the Naas Urban Council for eight years and is noted as a keen debater.\u2019<\/p>\n
The election was held on 19 August 1942 and out of 2,117 voters on the Register of Electors for Naas Urban, 1,293 votes were recorded, representing about 62 per cent of the poll. There were ten candidates for nine seats, with the quota being 127 votes. Daddy O\u2019Donoghue topped the poll with 265 votes on the first count. Mrs. Mary Higgins (Fianna Fail), known as \u2018Minnehaha,\u2019 after the wife of a North American Indian chief, was next with 172 votes. Also elected were Michael Fitzsimons, John Dowling (Fine Gael), William Daly, Thomas Drewitt (Labour), Nicholas Murphy (Independent Labour), Thomas Lacy (Independent) and John Lawler. John W. Doyle (Fine Gael), a member of the outgoing Council, was the only candidate defeated.<\/p>\n
Proposing a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer, Joe Boyle, O\u2019Donoghue expressed his thanks to the staffs for their courtesy and co-operation. He paid a special tribute to Mr. Boyle, the Town Clerk of Naas, and said that everyone was aware of his efficiency, prudence, conscientiousness, and his work for the municipality. That the Urban Council was able to steer clear of many dangers which has submerged other public bodies, was due to his foresight and his intensive interest in the welfare of the town, he said. The result of the election,\u00a0O’Donoghue added, proved that democracy was on the crest of wave and plutocracy, or the thing which aped it, was on the ebbing tide. Long might it be so, O\u2019Donoghue said. He paid tribute to the various officials who had conducted the election and thanked the Press for the fair and impartial publicity which had always been accorded to him. Without an organization behind him, he had been able to steer to an overwhelming victory. That spoke for itself and showed that the plain citizen of this country could never be stampeded by false promises or downright hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
In the days when there were no television sets and few people had radios exchanges between the local politicians were relayed to the townspeople by the Leinster Leader<\/i> and were a great source of entertainment. In March 1947 the Urban Council decided to ask the local Gas Works to change the hours 6.30 and 8.30 to 7.00 and 9.00 in regard to turning off the gas. In reply Daddy\u00a0O\u2019Donoghue said:<\/p>\n
\u2018They should give the people reasonable hours to be out of bed these cold mornings \u2013 especially when they have no butter, very little sugar and only concrete bread.\u2019<\/p>\n
Councilor Taylor replied: ‘People are asleep at the time they turn off the gas, and when they are up, they turn it off. That\u2019s a cod.\u2019<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donoghue was elected Chairman of the UDC in 1953 after the sitting chairperson, Michael J. Fitzsimons, died in office. Older residents of Naas remembered Daddy O\u2019Donoghue as a well-tailored and well-groomed man. He was pictured in a prominent position at republican commemorations in Co. Kildare in the 1940s and 1950s.<\/p>\n
Michael J. \u2018Daddy\u2019 O\u2019Donoghue died on 24 December 1955, aged seventy. At the meeting of the Urban Council a vote of sympathy was proposed with the relatives of Michael J. O\u2019Donoghue. The Chairman, Mr. T. G. Dowling, said that he had done a great deal of good during his twenty-five years on the Council and he would like to place on record their appreciation of it. His widow, Bridget O\u2019Donoghue, died on 19 May 1962, in Harold\u2019s Cross Hospice, Dublin, and was buried beside her husband, in St. Corban\u2019s Cemetery, Naas.<\/p>\n
My thanks to Paddy Behan, Mick Mulvey, Jackie Bracken and Timmy Conway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Himself. Daddy Donoghue James Durney One of the great local characters in bygone Naas was Michael J. \u2018Daddy\u2019 O\u2019Donoghue. Daddy is featured in Timmy Conway\u2019s hilarious book Characters. Timmy wrote: \u2018In an age before television, local politics and local politicians fulfilled the function of entertainment and were a great source of \u2018craic\u2019 and amusement. Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogical-resources"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}