O'Connell, John (1949–99), human rights activist, was born 27 September 1949 in Claregalway, Co. Galway, the youngest of the seven children, four boys and three girls, of James O'Connell, a farmer, and his wife, Margaret, née Folan, who also came from a farming background. He was educated locally, before joining the Columban Fathers in 1967; he then obtained a BA in economics and politics at UCD in 1971. He was ordained a priest in 1975 and went to Gingoog City, in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. While there, he shared responsibility for thirty-eight chapels and 50,000 catholics, and was described by colleagues as a good organiser with energy and ideas. In 1980 he went to New York to study at the New School at postgraduate level, before returning to Ireland in 1982 as justice and faith coordinator of the Columbans. In 1984 he was one of a small group of people who began to explore what could be done to support the struggle for Travellers' rights, and from these meetings there emerged the Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group. Having approached the National Training and Employment Authority to found a leadership course for Travellers, the funding eventually came through and O'Connell was the director and one of two coordinators of the new course, which commenced in 1985 in Meath Street, Dublin, at the first Pavee Point Travellers' centre. Having some problems with the institutional church and believing that he could better serve the travelling community as a member of the laity, he decided to leave the priesthood in 1985; in doing so, however, he retained many close friendships with Columban priests.
While the initial aim of Pavee Point was that Traveller leaders could be identified and trained over a three-year period to assume leadership of their community and tackle their problems, it was quickly realised that this approach was simplistic. Instead, it was decided that settled people would have to be involved in challenging social prejudice against Travellers, and as a result Pavee Point became a partnership organisation. In its early years the organisation was forced to move a number of times, first to Beresford Place and then to Gardiner Street, until in 1991 it purchased its own premises in North Great Charles Street, which became the Pavee Point Centre. O'Connell was the driving force behind the fund-raising for this. Pavee Point was the first organisation for Travellers which emphasised empowerment of Travellers; earlier groups had been dominated by members of the settled community. An important and innovative aspect of O'Connell's approach was his commitment to Traveller women which resulted in, among other things, the opening of a laundry in Cara Park, Coolock, Dublin, and the employment of Traveller women as health workers and helpers of those subjected to domestic violence. He was instrumental in encouraging Travellers to enter third-level education. The scope of his work was broadly based and broadly conceived: he was a founder of the European Anti-Poverty Network and of the Gypsy Traveller Network, attending a number of European Community and UN meetings to discuss these and other issues, as well as linking the marginalisation of Travellers to that of other groups in Ireland such as Jews, protestants and asylum seekers. He was also an excellent communicator who got his message across through the production of high-quality books, videos, and posters.
On 27 September 1990 O'Connell married Anastasia, the daughter of John Crickley and his wife, Margaret, née Brennan, of Co. Meath; they had one son. His principal residences were in Claregalway, the Philippines and Dublin. He published a number of works on the problems of Travellers, including Reach out (1994); Travellers, Gypsies, Roma (1997); Report on the First Gypsy Congress of the European Union (1994); and Working with Travellers: the need for imagination in work with Irish Travellers. He developed a brain tumour and died 21 November 1999 in Dublin. When a commemorative service was held at Pavee Point in May 2000, President Mary McAleese unveiled a plaque to him.