Pádraig Ó Snodaigh

Pádraig Ó Snodaigh was born in Carlow, Ireland on 18 May 1935.

From 1970 to 1973, he was co-editor with Mícheál Ó Bréartún of Pobal, an Irish language current affairs magazine. From 1974 to 1977, he was the editor of Carn, the official magazine of the Celtic League. In 1980, Ó Snodaigh founded the publishing company Coiscéim which has published nearly 2,000 books in Irish. In addition he wrote poetry, novels, and historical essays. He co-edited three editions, with Tomás Mac Síomóin, of the political, philosophical and literary journal Lasair. He began a book series in 2006 focusing on reflections on 1916. The series is called, Macallai na Cásca, and there are 24 books in the series thus far.

One of his most famous books is Hidden Ulster, Protestants and the Irish language. Another noted book is Two Godfathers of Revisionism (1991), which contains a discussion of Eugene Kamenka's book on nationalism as well as a critique of the revisionist view of the 1916 Rising in Irish history. Ó Snodaigh argued against the views of this event made by Irish historians F.X. Martin and Francis Shaw (the "two godfathers" of the book's title), whom he claimed are arguing from an anti-nationalist perspective.

Ó Snodaigh was married to the artist Cliodhna Cussen. His son Aengus is a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála. Three of his other sons, Rossa, Rónán, and Colm, are in the band Kíla. His other sons are Cormac and Fergus who owned and operated a security firm for 20 years until 2004.

Pádraig Ó Snodaigh died on 2 January 2025, at the age of 89.