[2] From 1975 to 1978, he worked as a research assistant in Dublin for the Pevsner Architectural Guides 'Buildings of Ireland' series.
[3] From 1982, O'Donnell worked as an inspector at English Heritage and the public bodies that preceded it.
[citation needed] He has written in academic journals and has also contributed to The Catholic Herald.
[4] He has given talks and lectures, for example, on Augustus Pugin at the University of Malta,[5] and on the history, art and architecture of Buckfast Abbey.
[6][dead link] Some photographs, attributed to O'Donnell, are in the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art.