poet, playwright, and balladeer, prominent representative of lively Irish entertainment in the mid-20th century.

MacDonagh was the son of Thomas MacDonagh, a poet and leader of the Easter Rising (1916). After attending the National University of Ireland, Dublin, MacDonagh practiced law (1936–46) and was a district judge (1946–68). His varied literary career includes comedies such as Happy as Larry (1946) and God's Gentry (1951) and poetry such as Veterans and Other Poems (1941), which also appeared in periodicals in Ireland and the United States. Also an authority on the traditional Irish ballad, MacDonagh was a popular radio and stage performer in the 1940s and '50s. With E.S. Lennox Robinson, he edited The Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1958).