Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa: Family separate the man from the myth

The lone Irish-based descendent of O’Donovan Rossa tells Noel Baker how her family is proud of its famous ancestor. We get a bigger picture of him as a human being and not just as a Fenian.

FOR one descendant of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, the ‘homecoming’ has already taken place and there is now a chance at something like a family reunion.

Eileen Quill is O’Donovan Rossa’s great granddaughter and, despite being born and raised in New York, she is also the only Irish-based descendant of the West Cork rebel.