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Helen O'Donnell (née O'Connor, born 1960/1961)[1] is an Irish businesswoman who is co-founder of Team Limerick Clean-up. She was a candidate in the 2024 Limerick mayoral election, and finished in 2nd place.[2]
She was born in Sligo and was educated at Grange National School, Grange Vocational School, Convent of Mercy Claremorris, and College of Catering RTC Galway.[3]
In 1994, O'Donnell was invited by John Bruton to sit as an alternate delegate for Fine Gael on the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation.[4] The same year, she opened her first business; an art-and-craft gallery and restaurant.[5]
In 2011, she founded Limerick City Tidy Towns and three years later she received the national Hero Award at Tidy Towns.[6] In 2015, along with J. P. McManus and Paul O'Connell, she co-founded the annual Team Limerick Clean-Up, a one-day tidy happening every Good Friday and attracting over 20,000 volunteers from various towns in the county.[7]
She sat as chair of Crescent College's board of management, Limerick City Business Association, Adapt Domestic Abuse Services and PAUL Partnership,[8] and the Safefood advisory board. Founded in 1999, Safefood is one of six North-South implementation bodies established under the terms of the British-Irish Agreement.[9][10] She represented Limerick Chamber at the National Retail Forum.[11]
In 2013, she was awarded the Limerick Person of the Year award and was honoured with a civic reception in 2020. That same year, she was "grand marshal" of the Limerick St Patrick's Day Parade.[12][13]
She ran the Hunt Cafe in the Hunt Museum for twenty-five years, until 2022.[14]
She was a former honorary national secretary of Fine Gael.[15]
Limerick mayoral candidacy
In March 2023, O'Donnell announced that she would stand in the 2024 Limerick mayoral election, Limerick's first ever direct election for the position of mayor.[16] She received the endorsement of businessman J. P. McManus, whose benevolent fund she served on the board of.[17] O'Donnell finished second in the results, losing to John Moran on the 12th count.[18]
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In 1984, she married Tom O'Donnell, and they had one son. Her husband was a Fine Gael politician who served as a TD, MEP and cabinet minister.[19] Her nephew through marriage, Kieran O'Donnell, is a Fine Gael TD for Limerick.[16]
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