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Irish business profile: Turlough McConnell

By
SUE DOHERTY,
IrishCentral.com

Published Monday, November 9, 2009, 2:25 PM
Updated Monday, November 9, 2009, 2:45 PM

 

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Turlough McConnell with Ireland's Middleweight boxer John Duddy (left) and actor Seamus McDonagh, the former New York Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion
Turlough McConnell with Ireland's Middleweight boxer John Duddy (left) and actor Seamus McDonagh, the former New York Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion, at the opening of “Fighting Irishmen” exhibition

Sometimes when you get chatting to a person who has emigrated from Ireland, you can catch a glimpse of the country’s own evolution over the last thirty or so years. That’s very much the case with Buncrana, County Donegal man Turlough McConnell, whose writing and music took him first to Dublin and then on to New York.

Turlough grew up on Main Street, Buncrana where his parents owned The Souvenir House on Market Square and his grandparents owned The Atlantic Hotel. It was, he recalls, a marvelous time. “I grew up in the 50s, early 60s. It was a wonderful time to be in Buncrana. There was great prosperity after World War II; we always had busloads of tourists coming in.

“Then the Troubles came and everything stopped. I went to Dublin to join the Abbey Theatre School as a writer but I got sidelined into the folk scene, which was just taking off. I met an American composer named David Mead. We collaborated on songs and recorded for Polydor. He was a very dedicated, serious composer. We created a show based on the Irish classic novel ‘The Crock of Gold’ that was staged at The Gaiety in 1974.

“Then I moved to New York, where I worked away writing and producing for the theatre and television. I soon lined up a day job as well, as a writer/producer of corporate films and videos. It was the early days of videos back then. My true interest was in not losing touch with Ireland, Donegal and Buncrana. I did a lot of work for Bord Failte, and Coras Trachtala, the forerunner of the IDA. Through that, I soon found myself involved in organizing trade shows and exhibitions, alongside my media work for major American companies.

“Then in the early 1990s, when Irish-American media started to take off, I began working with Niall O'Dowd. This was during the Clinton years, soon after when Niall and Editor Patricia Harty founded Irish America Magazine. I joined that team; it was so exciting and lots of fun. And the wonder is that we continue to work passionately on projects today especially with the advent, earlier this year, of IrishCentral.com. The main thing is we see real change taking place every day despite these volcanic economic times.

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