Background
O'Mara was born in Limerick and educated by the Christian Brothers in Limerick, and at Clongowes Wood College in Dublin.
Diplomat politician Deputy to the Dáil Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
O'Mara was born in Limerick and educated by the Christian Brothers in Limerick, and at Clongowes Wood College in Dublin.
As an MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, he introduced the bill which made Saint Patrick's Day a national holiday in Ireland in 1903. He was one of the few politicians to have served both as member in the House of Commons and in He finally got his B.A. degree from the Royal University in 1898. His career in Westminster is noted for his introduction of the Bill which became the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903, making Saint Patrick's Day a national holiday.
O'Mara later introduced the law which required that pubs be closed on 17 March, a provision which was repealed only in the 1970s. In 1907, O'Mara resigned from Parliament and from the Irish Parliamentary Party to join Sinn Féin, the first MP to do so. He returned to Dublin in 1914 to continue his work in the bacon business, and remained active in Sinn Féin.
At the 1918 general election, he was Sinn Féin's Director of Finance and the party's fourth Director of Elections (his three predecessors having been imprisoned). He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for his old constituency of Kilkenny South, defeating the Irish Party's Matthew Keating by 8,685 votes to 1,855. South Kilkenny was one of 73 constituencies returning Sinn Féin MPs pledged not to take their seats at Westminster.
In the First he became Trustee of funds, and travelled to the United States with Éamon de Valera to pursue a fund-raising drive. He resigned his trusteeship and his Dáil seat in 1921 after a disagreement with de Valera. A supporter of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, he was appointed as the first Irish Ambassador to the United States, but served only briefly.
Polling took place on 12 March 1924, and O'Mara was returned to the 4th Dáil, which sat until 1927. He did not contest the June 1927 general election, and retired from politics. He died on 21 November 1948 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
In the 1900 general election, O'Mara was elected unopposed as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for South Kilkenny.
27th United Kingdom Parliament. 28th United Kingdom Parliament. 31st United Kingdom Parliament.