I.  The National Body

Clans of Ireland — Finte na hÉireann — is the Irish charity established to authenticate, register and support the clans and historical families of Ireland. It was founded in 1989 and incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1990. It is an Irish registered charity (CHY 11585; Company Register Number 159373) and operates from Rathgar, Dublin.

The Register of Clans is its central work. Each year the organisation publishes a refreshed list of verified Irish families, each with a named correspondent and a heritage record. Inclusion is not automatic; a clan applies, documents its lineage and ongoing work, and is reviewed by the board before it is admitted.

II.  Ó Dubhda on the Register

Our clan is included in the Register for 2026. The certificate — reproduced at the foot of this page — names us in both the Gaelic and anglicised forms (Ó Dubhda / O’Dowd) and is signed by Micheál Ó Chruadhlaoich, Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) of Clans of Ireland. It is held by the Council of the clan and sits alongside the older records of our Taoisigh, our territory, and our coat of arms.

Registration is an annual instrument, not a one-off proclamation. It is the organisation’s working statement that a given family has a functioning council, documented heritage, and a named correspondent the national body can reach.

III.  Our People in the Organisation

Two of the people closest to the Ó Dubhda clan also carry work inside Clans of Ireland itself — which means a member of our own family is present at the table when Irish clan affairs are shaped nationally.

Kieran O’Dowd — Cisteoir (Treasurer). Kieran sits on the board of Clans of Ireland. He is the organisation’s treasurer and also carries registration correspondence for member clans. His presence on the board is a material link between our family and the governance of the national body.

Conor Mac Hale — our registered correspondent. Conor is the long-standing scholarly voice on Ó Dubhda matters and the named contact for our clan on the Clans of Ireland register. He is the author of The O’Dubhda Family History (1990) — the thirty-three-page work that remains the single most important modern synthesis of our annals, our castle list, our Taoiseach succession, and the Lecan-era inauguration rite. A great deal of what now appears on this website rests on that research.

IV.  The 2026 Gathering

Our Taoiseach represented Ó Dubhda at the most recent Clans of Ireland gathering in Dublin, standing among the chieftains of the other registered families. Photographs from the day show the chair received in the traditional way — flanked by historical reenactors in mail and saffron — a deliberate echo of the Gaelic inaugurations the organisation was founded to remember. The Register certificate for 2026 was presented at that meeting.

V.  Sources

• Register of Clans 2026 — Finte na hÉireann / Clans of Ireland, signed Micheál Ó Chruadhlaoich, Cathaoirleach.
• Clans of Ireland — Governance: clansofireland.ie/governance (officers and constitutional form).
• Conor Mac Hale, The O’Dubhda Family History (1990).
• Photography: Clans of Ireland gathering, Dublin, 2026.