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Member Webinars

Member Webinars

Live Talks from the Clan

Scholars, archaeologists, genealogists — in your living room.
Different webinars open to different tiers as they're scheduled. Voting Members get the full programme; Patrons get the back-stage Zooms; Community Members get the public talks. We post each one as it's announced.
How the Series Works

Live, members-only talks — a direct return on your dues

Each talk is delivered live to clan members, with the recording added to the members’ archive afterwards. Topics span the full reach of the clan’s work — archaeology and place-name research, the genealogy and DNA project, the homelands, the diaspora, and the families and houses descended from the line. Below are the talks currently in the pipeline.

As the clan grows — and especially once we cross 100 active members — we will begin paying honoraria to the scholars, volunteers, and stewards who give their time to present. Your membership directly funds the scholarship and the storytelling.

Want to be notified? Members are emailed when each webinar is scheduled. Not yet a member? Join the clan to take part.
Planned Topic 01

The Folklore of Tireragh

Stories rooted in the landscape
Proposed Presenter
Dr. Marion Dowd — Archaeologist, Atlantic Technological University Sligo

In October 2025, Dr. Dowd walked with us through the sacred sites of our homeland and unpacked the folklore woven into every cairn, holy well, and hollow. By popular request, we’re inviting her back online — this time for the members who couldn’t travel to Sligo. Expect the Rowan of Dubhros, the legend of Coggins’ Hill, and stories the guidebooks never recorded.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 02

The Castles of the O’Dubhda

A tour led by the family that wrote the book
Proposed Presenter
Conor Mac Hale, Clans of Ireland Honoree

Conor’s father Michael Mac Hale published The Castles of Tireragh and Erris in 1990 — still the indispensable field guide to our fortresses. Conor carries that scholarly tradition forward. In this webinar he walks members through every castle from Ardnarea to Scurmore, drawing on forty years of family research and his own ground-level fieldwork.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 03

Saving the O’Dowd Castle at Enniscrone

The volunteers doing the work
Proposed Presenter
Enniscrone Community & Heritage CLG — the preservation team on the ground

The O’Dowd castle field at Enniscrone is being carefully preserved by a local volunteer-led group — the most important preservation partner the clan has. Hear directly from the people doing the work: what they’ve uncovered, what they’re fighting to save from the sea and the seasons, and how the diaspora can meaningfully help.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 04

In the Footsteps of W.B. Yeats

The curator of our tour, in conversation
Proposed Presenter
Andrew Dowds — Former Taoiseach of the Clan

Andrew designed the Yeats self-guided tour that now anchors our Homelands section — seventeen stops tracing the poet through the sacred terrain of Sligo, from Dooney Rock to Ben Bulben. In this webinar he walks members through the route from the comfort of an armchair: what to look for, why it matters, and how Yeats and the O’Dubhda story intertwine across the Sligo landscape.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 05

The 1798 Rising in O’Dubhda Country

When the French came to Killala
Proposed Presenter
Andrew Dowds — Former Taoiseach of the Clan

The French landed at Killala in August 1798. General Humbert marched through our homeland with the Army of the Men of Connacht. Andrew’s self-guided tour of the Rising retraces that fateful fortnight stop by stop — this webinar brings the maps, the first-hand accounts, and the names of the O’Dowd families who stood with the rebellion.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 06

The Clan DNA Project

What our genes are telling us
Proposed Presenter
Sean O’Dowda Stephens, Taoiseach

After fifteen years of testing, we now have our dynastic genetic signature: R-FGC23742, a branch of the Uí Fiachrach on the R-L21 tree. Sean unpacks what this means in plain English — who we descend from, who we’re cousins to, where the four documented septs came from, and what the next wave of Big-Y tests is going to reveal.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 07

The 2025 Inauguration Rite

A living ceremony, renewed
Proposed Presenters
Sean O’Dowda Stephens (Taoiseach) with Dr. Marion Dowd

On 9 October 2025 the first O’Dubhda inauguration in centuries took place on the Enniscrone Mound, within Castle Field beside the ruined O’Dowda Castle. A young rowan sapling was planted at the gate of the O’Dowda Castle. Ancient FitzPatrick protocols were adapted to the moment. Marion explains the archaeology of the mound; Sean shares what it felt like to stand on it. A members-only behind-the-scenes of a ceremony five centuries in the waiting.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 08

Mac Firbis & the Great Book of Lecan

The scribal dynasty who gave us our past
Proposed Presenter
Tom Dowds (proposed) — or a visiting medievalist we invite from NUI Galway or UCD

The Mac Firbis scribes of Lackan produced the Book of Lecan and the Leabhar na nGenealach — two of the most important medieval Irish manuscripts in existence. Without them, half of what we know about Gaelic Ireland would be lost. This webinar walks members through the manuscripts, the scribal dynasty, and the memorial that still stands on the hill above the Moy.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 09

“O Dowdes Countrie”

The cartographic evidence of our lordship
Proposed Presenter
Sean O’Dowda Stephens with guest historians

From Speed to Baxter to the Down Survey, the cartographers of the 1600s put our name on Irish soil in ink. This webinar walks members through the evidence — what the maps show, what they name, what’s been lost, and how we’ve used them to verify castle sites, townland boundaries, and the full extent of the old lordship of Tireragh.

Date to Be Determined
Planned Topic 010

Seventy Years of Gathering

The story of the O’Dubhda rallies
Proposed Presenter
Tom Dowds (proposed) — or a long-standing member of the Rally Committee

Since the first rally gathered at the stone above Enniscrone in 1955, the clan has come together every few years in Ireland, America, and across the diaspora. This webinar walks members through seven decades of reunions — the families who made them happen, the stones and trees they planted, and the plans now taking shape for the next great gathering in 2028.

Date to Be Determined

A Note from the Clan

This series is run by volunteers. If you’d like to propose a topic that isn’t listed — or to offer a talk of your own — reach out through the contact page. Members can also raise it on the Family Exchange board.

— The O’Dubhda Clan Council