Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill (ca. 1590–1649), anglicised as Owen Roe O'Neill ("Red Owen"), was a seventeenth century soldier from Ireland and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill was, like many Gaelic Irish officers in the Spanish service, very hostile to the English Protestant presence in Ireland. In 1627, he was involved in petitioning the Spanish monarchy to invade Ireland using the Irish Spanish regiments. O'Neill proposed that Ireland be made a republic under Spanish protection to avoid in-fighting between Irish Catholic landed families over which of them would provide a prince or king of Ireland. This plot came to nothing. However in 1642, O'Neill returned to Ireland with 300 veterans to aid the Irish Rebellion of 1641.