The Granuaile Trust


In 1986 the Granuaile Trust of the O'Malley Clan, a charitable Trust, was established in Ireland with the following objectives:

  • To establish research into the background of the O'Malley Clan, including the publication of appropriate brochures, journals or books or documentation or recording by any other medium.
  • To promote and encourage particularly by those of the O'Malley clan, architecture, art and design, music and musical composition, theatre arts, film arts and any other cultural or educational medium.
  • Preservation and restoration of the wall paintings in Saint Bridget's church Clare Island and of all ancient monuments and artifacts associated with the O'Malley clan.
  • To encourage the presentation of works of art and historical documents and memorabilia worthy of preservation to appropriate institutions.
  • Provision of a museum in Mayo in order to make available to the public memorabilia and historical data which reflect Irish traditions and heritage.
  • To seek support for the objectives of the Trust in any part of the world.

The initial signatures on the Trust were Joan O'Malley Ringrose Dublin, Sara O'Malley McInerney Dublin, Pearse O'Malley Delgany, Co Wicklow, George O'Malley Limerick, Grace O'Malley Purcell Dublin, Liam J. Lysaght Dublin (Solicitor) and Rosemary Putt Dublin, (Solicitor).

Members: Cormac K.H. O'Malley (Trustee) New York, Don O'Malley Limerick (Trustee), Peter O Máille (Secretary) Dublin, Ellen O'Malley Dunlop Dublin (Chairperson), Conor O'Malley Dublin, Kieran O'Malley Dublin, Michael J. O'Malley Castlebar, Sheila O'Malley Mulloy Westport and Pat McDonnell Dublin.

During its 10 years in existence, the Trust achieved a number of its objectives:

  • It supported the conservation of the wall painting in the Abbey on Clare Island by contributing to the accommodation for the conservationists who were carrying out this very important work under the guidance of the Royal Irish Academy over a 10 years period. See the Irish Times article and Connaught Telegraph articles about the Paintings
  • It ran an ESSAY COMPETITION "The Relevance of Granuaile to Present Day Ireland" for 16-25 year olds with a first prize of £500 second prize of £200 and third prize of £100.
  • It Provided to the School of Architecture in University College Dublin, a bursary of £15,000 in perpetuity which paid the fees for one student annually in the newly created postgraduate course in Urban and Building Conservation's course and was open to graduates and professionals in Architecture, Engineering and Regional and Urban Planning. The award was not limited by religion, nationality or any requirement other than that the applicant needed assistance to undertake the course.
  • With the support of Sal O'Malley McInerney, ANÚNA was commissioned by the Trust to compose an O'Malley Mass which had its first recital in Trinity College Chapel during Sal's Chieftain's Gathering. See the YouTube link below.
  • It facilitated the donation of £10,000 seed funding to Anne Chambers and David Reilly for the development of a Film Script on the Life and Times of Granuaile.

Just a reminder that during the early years of the Trust there was no internet and no mobile phones, so everything was done by post and the telephone. Subsequently the O'Malley Clan Gatherings began to grow because of the internet which meant that there was easier access to the O'Malley Diaspora. As a result, the Trust was wound down as it was felt that it was better to build up the Gatherings and get the support of the former Chieftains to promote as much of the objectives of the Trust as was possible via the Annual Gatherings.

Even though the Trust had a relatively short lifespan, it achieved a lot and huge thanks goes to all the trustees and members whose time and energy was so important to boost and raise the awareness of the O'Malley Clan when numbers had been waning at gatherings. It is indeed very welcome to see the current interest in the Clan and may it go from strength to strength. Ó Máille Abú.

Ellen O'Malley Dunlop

Former Chieftain and Guardian Chieftain

The official Crest or motif for the Trust was designed in consultation with the Chief Herald of Ireland and the following variants of the name O MAILLE which may be accepted as an entitlement to Clan membership were approved by the genealogical office: O Mailie, O Mallie, O Mally, O Maely, O'Malley, O'Meally, O'Mealy, Malley, Mallie, Meally, Mealley, Melly, Melia, Maly, Maley, Mealy. 

Patricia Hyde of Castleknock, Dublin, first winner of the O'Malley Bursary