How Cork’s top banana brought democracy to ‘La Isla Bonita’

The name Dennis O'Daly scarcely receives a mention in history books; nor is there much about him in the archives. Yet this banana merchant from Cork helped people more than two thousand five hundred miles from his native land obtain the vote, says Robert Hume.

Dennis O’Daly, son of James and Onora, was born in Co.Cork about 1738. Possibly the family lived in West Cork where O’Daly was a common family name, especially around the Sheep's Head peninsula.