O'Connor, Bartholomew (‘Batt’, Phartalán ) (1870–1935), builder, revolutionary, and politician, was born 4 July 1870 in east Kerry. Educated locally, he left school at 17 and trained as a stonemason with his father and elder brother, later spending three years (1893–5) as a builder in New Hampshire, USA. Returning to Ireland, he worked briefly as a bricklayer in Cobh, Co. Cork, before moving to Dublin, where he worked as a sub-contractor building houses in Kilmainham and Anglesea Road. In 1900 he set up his own business and built many houses around Donnybrook and Ballsbridge; one of his biggest developments was Brendan Road, Donnybrook, where he constructed twelve houses, of which he retained possession, naming the new road after St Brendan (qv).
A member of the St Lawrence O'Toole branch and later the Keating branch of the Gaelic League, in 1909 he was initiated into the ‘Teeling circle’ of the IRB, and became friendly with a number of revolutionary leaders, in particular Seán MacDermott (qv) and Tom Clarke (qv). In 1913 he joined the Irish Volunteers and in 1916 was ordered to Kerry in advance of the Easter rising, but after the arrest of Roger Casement (qv) he returned to Dublin, where he was arrested. Courtmartialled in Richmond barracks and deported to Britain, he was imprisoned in Wandsworth and Frongoch, where he met Michael Collins (qv), prior to his release in September 1916. During the independence campaign he was one of Collins's most trusted allies. Using his position as a builder he was able to buy houses used for Sinn Féin and Dáil Éireann activities. He also adapted a number of houses, constructing hidden rooms to serve as secure hiding places for people and documents. The proceeds of the national loan were buried in boxes beneath the concrete floor of his home, 1 Brendan Road, where Collins often visited for food and shelter. He was also a treasurer of the National Land Bank, chairman of the Pembroke Sinn Féin comhairle ceanntair, and treasurer of the Donnybrook O'Rahilly Sinn Féin club, was involved in running republican courts, and acted as an intelligence agent for Collins, befriending postal workers and intercepting mail for British intelligence agents living around Donnybrook. At one stage during the revolutionary period he was hit by a car and almost killed.
Elected as Sinn Féin member of Pembroke urban council in January 1920, he later served as chairman of the council. He supported the Anglo–Irish treaty and as a result was ousted as treasurer of Donnybrook Sinn Féin club in March 1922. An unsuccessful Cumann na nGaedheal candidate for Dublin county in the 1923 general election, he was elected for the constituency in a by-election in 1924, defeating Seán MacEntee (qv). He served as TD for Dublin county till his death, while continuing to run his successful building business, but was not a very frequent speaker in the dáil, where he was most concerned with local government, unemployment, housing, and trade. In 1929 he published a memoir, With Michael Collins in the fight for Irish independence. He lived at 1 Brendan Road (1912–23), 13 Eglinton Road (1924–34), and 37 Eglinton Road (1935), where he died 7 February 1935, survived by his wife Bridget, a son, and two daughters, leaving an estate of £13,348. His papers are in the UCD archives department.