Why Mícheál Ó Dubhda (Mike Dowd) is on this page

Mike Dowd — who takes the Irish form of his name, Mícheál Ó Dubhda, at clan events — was elected Tánaiste in Chicago in 2006 and inaugurated as the fourth modern Taoiseach at Enniscrone in October 2009, with the retiring Ed O’Dowd (then 84, the oldest man at the gathering) handing over the White Wand.

Based in Brisbane, Queensland, his tenure gave the clan’s truly international character its clearest expression to date, deepening ties between the Irish heartland and the Australian branch. He remains an active voice on the council and has written and lectured on the figure of St Patrick in Ó Dubhda country.

See The Taoisigh of Tireragh for the full line of modern chieftains.

Heritage notes

Family root: Tireragh.

The directory threads Mícheál Ó Dubhda (Mike Dowd) back to the Ó Dubhda clan story via the surname-variants reality — the same family carried these spellings as it scattered. See the septs and the diaspora for the wider pattern, or the Clan DNA Project for the genetic connections being mapped now.