His role was likely a politically complex and delicate one, as he was now both a Trade Union leader and politician, meaning he represented both the workers of an industry and the people of a city simultaneously.

O'Carroll tabled a motion to the Board proposing that no Dublin City Council contracts be awarded to contractors who used child labour.

He was a member of the conciliation board which played a key role in ending the lock-out, while also providing public support for the disenfranchised labourers who had been denied the right to unionise: a week after Bloody Sunday in 1913, during which he had been badly beaten by police at a banned Trade Union meeting, Cllr.

O'Carroll addressed a large crowd at Nelson's Pillar along with Larkin and other key leaders, urging the public to vote for Labour representation to improve the civil rights of workers.

[3] On the afternoon of 26 April 1916, having summarily executed journalists Dickson, MacIntyre and Francis Sheehy Skeffington at Portobello Barracks that morning, Captain John Bowen Colthurst led a raid on suspected rebel hideouts in Camden Street, Dublin city centre.

"So this poor terrified wretch was made to kneel down on the pavement and make his peace with God"[4] before being shot point-blank in the chest in front of a crowd of onlookers and soldiers.

Perhaps unnerved by the large audience, instead of administering a killing shot, Colthurst commandeered a passing bread van and had him taken to Portobello Infirmary, where he died nine days later.

O'Carroll had been attempting to escape when he was shot: "One other man (name unknown) was captured in Byrne's and as seditious (pro-German) literature was found on him and as he had arms in his possession he was made prisoner and placed in charge of Sergeant Kelly.

The soldier Lieutenant Gibbon, who knew Colthurst's claim was false, overheard him outside the orderly room, coaching a sergeant (presumably Kelly) to tell the investigating adjutant that 'The prisoner was trying to escape'.

In 1935 the National Graves Association and the Bricklayer's Union erected a new memorial tombstone, detailing his achievements for Ireland and commemorating his life.