Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich | Peter Toner McGinley (5 October 1856, Altinierin, Donegal – 1 July 1942, Dublin) was an Irish author active in the Gaelic League who also served as its president. He wrote in Irish under the pseudonym ‘Cú Uladh’ (The Hound of Ulster), which was also used for his contributions to Erskine’s Guth na Bliadhna.
An early letter from him, signed as ‘Peadar MacFhionnlaoich’, appeared in Am Bàrd. McGinley also won an essay competition run by Guth na Bliadhna in 1912. As he is the attributed author of a column on Irish affairs in Alba in 1920, it is likely that he also wrote some of the later unattributed columns in the newspaper on the same subject which appeared in Irish.
Publications in Erskine’s Periodicals
- ‘The Pan-Celtic Congress’ [letter, ENG], Am Bàrd, Volume I, Issue IV (August 1901)
- ‘An t-Albanach in Éirinn’ [essay, IR], Volume IX, Issue 3 (Summer 1912)
- ‘An t-Athrú Mor in Éirinn’ [essay, IR], Volume XVI, Issue 1 (Spring 1919)
- ‘Dail Éireann agus an Ghaedhilig’ [essay, IR], Volume XVI, Issue 2 (Summer 1919)
- ‘Na Cinidheacha Ceilteacha’ [essay, IR], Volume XVI, Issue 4 (Winter 1919)
- ‘Sgeala o Éirinn’ [article, IR], Issue 3 (17 January 1920)
Resources
- Vincent Morley, ‘Mac Fhionnlaoich, Peadar Toner (McGinley, Peter Toner; ‘Cú Uladh’),’ Dictionary of Irish Biography (October 2009)
- Diarmuid Breathnach & Máire Ní Mhurchú, ‘MAC FHIONNLAOICH, Peadar Toner (1856–1942),’ Ainm.ie
- ‘The Gaelic Revival Movement in East Belfast,’ Great War Gaeilgeoirí of East Belfast (2025)