Eunan McDonnell was born Sept. 28, 1961, in Strabane, attended the Salesian novitiate in Dublin between 1981 and 1982, made his first religious profession in Warrenstown on Sept. 8, 1982, and his perpetual profession in the same location on July 9, 1988. He was ordained a priest in his hometown on June 16, 1990.
From 1995 to 1999 he held the positions of Novice Master and Provincial House Vicar in Dublin. From 2000 to 2004, he served in Ethiopia, in Adigrat, assuming the role of community vicar, and later adding the roles of School Principal and Oratory Director. Back home, he served in the communities of Celbridge - of which he was also Rector, from 2016 to 2017 - and Maynooth, where he spent 11 years, between 2005 and 2016.
At the provincial level, for the then Province of Ireland and Malta, he was Councillor, from 1996 to 1998 and Provincial Delegate for Vocations, from 2009 to 2012, before assuming the role of Provincial, for the first time, on August 6, 2017.
