Commemorative plaque on a red brick wall marking the former home of William Rooney (1873–1901), Irish journalist, poet, and Gaelic revivalist, at 23 Leinster Avenue. The plaque includes bilingual text in Irish and English and features three white Dublin City castle turrets on a blue background.
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Rooney, William – journalist, poet, and Gaelic Revivalist

This plaque was unveiled on 10 May 2025 at 23 Leinster Avenue, Dublin 3.

William Rooney (1873–1901) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, poet and Gaelic revivalist.

Born in born on 29 September 1873 in the ‘Monto’, in north inner city Dublin, his family later moving to 23 Leinster Avenue.

William Rooney (Liam Ó Maolruanaidh, 1873–1901) was a Dublin-born journalist, poet, and cultural nationalist who played a pivotal role in the Irish revival of the late 19th century. The son of a Fenian coachbuilder, he born on 29 September 1873 in the ‘Monto’, in north inner city Dublin, his family later moving to 23 Leinster Avenue.

He was educated by the Christian Brothers and worked as a railway clerk, pursuing further education through night study. He became active in nationalist circles from a young age, co-founding the Celtic Literary Society in 1893 and contributing to publications such as United Ireland, the Shan Van Vocht, and the United Irishman.

Rooney was a passionate advocate for the Irish language and an early supporter of the Gaelic League, despite his misgivings about its apolitical position. His collaboration with Arthur Griffith – whom he persuaded to return from South Africa to edit the United Irishman – was especially influential. Together, they began to articulate what would become the Sinn Féin policy and co-founded Cumann na nGaedheal in 1900.

Rooney died suddenly on 6 May 1901 at the age of 27, likely from tuberculosis. His premature death, just as his political vision was beginning to take shape, was a profound blow to his contemporaries. Arthur Griffith was devastated, and figures such as Michael Collins, W. B. Yeats, and Seán T. O’Kelly memorialised him in near-messianic terms.

Though his literary work received mixed reviews – James Joyce was notably critical – Rooney’s legacy endures as a visionary of inclusive civic nationalism and a formative influence on modern Irish political thought.1

This plaque was proposed by historian Gerard Shannon, and was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emma Blain, on 10 May 2025.

  1. See William Murphy, ‘Rooney, William (Ó Maolruanaidh, Liam)’, in Dictionary of Irish Biography (https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.007797.v1). ↩︎