Journalist and publisher Niall O’Dowd has been named the 2026 recipient of the Irish American Icons Award by the Morrison Legacy Foundation, which honored him at its annual gala in New York City. The evening brought together 400 guests from across the Irish American community to celebrate the Morrison and Donnelly Visa Programs and the generations of Irish immigrants whose lives were changed by them.
O’Dowd, who founded Irish America magazine, the Irish Voice newspaper, and IrishCentral, has been one of the most recognizable voices in Irish American life since the 1980s.
He campaigned for both the Donnelly and Morrison Visa Programs, which opened legal immigration routes to the United States for Irish nationals at a time when tens of thousands were living and working in America without documentation and those seeking to make a new life for themselves in the US. He later became a prominent advocate for the Northern Ireland peace process, and his publications have spent decades highlighting the work of Irish and Irish American figures in business, science, the arts, and public life.
Between them, the Morrison and Donnelly programs delivered more than 70,000 Irish nationals a legal pathway to the United States. The Morrison Legacy Foundation, which was founded in 2025 by Loretta Brennan Glucksman and Elaine Brennan, was set up to make sure that the effect of those programs is not only remembered but extended. Its stated aim is to preserve their legacy, connect the community they created, and press the case for future legal pathways between Ireland and the United States.
Elaine Brennan.
The gala was co-chaired by businessman Denis O’Brien and Michael Brewster. The Foundation began the awards tradition only last year, when its inaugural gala honored Bruce Morrison, the former Connecticut congressman whose name is attached to the visa program, on the principle that the best way to honor a legacy is to extend it.
Denis O'Brien.
Author Colum McCann, himself a Morrison visa recipient, opened the program with a spoken-word performance. O’Brien then introduced O’Dowd alongside a video montage tracing his career and his contributions to Irish America. Gerald Angley, Consul General of Ireland in New York, spoke about the importance of the Foundation’s work and his admiration for what a press release issued by the Morrison Legacy Foundation described as the “Morrison movement.”
Author Colum McCann.
The evening also included a panel discussion moderated by New York Times journalist and author Dan Barry. He was joined by filmmaker Terry George, Tony Reilly, founder of Ascend Advisory, and Dr. Geraldine McGinty, who reflected on the achievements of Irish immigrants in the United States and on what the visa programs made possible for those who arrived under them.
The Foundation organizes its work around three pillars, described as Preserve Legacy, Strengthen Community, and Create Opportunity. Its current projects include documenting the history and impact of the visa programs, building a permanent archive, connecting Irish American leaders across sectors, and advocating for new Irish immigration pathways to the United States.
Niall O'Dowd accept his away from the Morrison Legacy Foundation.
That last ambition gives the evening a sharper edge than a simple commemoration. The Morrison and Donnelly programs were products of a particular political moment in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and no comparable route for Irish nationals exists today. Legislation to create one, including proposals tied to the E-3 visa category, has surfaced in Washington repeatedly over the past decade without becoming law, leaving the Irish American lobby to keep making its case to each new Congress.
For O’Dowd, the award recognizes a career spent on both sides of that argument, reporting on Irish America while also working to shape the terms on which Irish people could come and stay. More than 70,000 families can trace their American story back to the programs he helped to win.
For more information, visit MorrisonLegacy.com.
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