Niall O’ Dowd was born in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. After graduating from

University College Dublin with a BA he emigrated to the United States in June

1979. He lived in San Francisco he started his first newspaper called “The

Irishman”. This was the first Irish newspaper in California in fifty years. In

1985 he sold the newspaper and moved to New York where he set up the Irish

America Magazine. This was the first ever-national Irish American magazine to be

set up in America. After the success of the Irish America Magazine Niall

successfully launched the Irish Voice Newspaper in 1987, this was the first

Irish Newspaper to be launched in New York since 1928.

After the success of these publications Niall then moved into political Circles

and in 1991 he founded the Irish Americans for Clinton campaign that supported

Bill Clinton on his presidential campaign. When Clinton was elected to the White

House he focused on Irish politics and led the Irish American delegation to

Northern Ireland. Niall acted as an intermediate between Sinn Féin and the White

House at a critical part in the Peace Process. The outcome of O’ Dowd’s role was

he managed to help secure a visa for Gerry Adams in February 1994 to come to the

US and discuss the matter of peace in Northern Ireland.

In 2002 his book Fire in the Morning, the story of the Irish on the September

11th attacks was number 2 on the Irish best sellers list. In 2004 Niall was

awarded a horary doctorate from University College Dublin. He was one of the

founders of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in 2005. Niall was named

among New York magazines most influential people in May 15th 2006; he was also

featured on the “People You Should Know” segment on CNN.

He now lives in New York with his wife Debby and daughter Alana. Niall’s most

recent venture was the launch of the website irishcentral.com in March 2009,

this site reaches out to the Irish globally