*PJ Kelly.
ONE of Clare’s most respected and colourful politicians, PJ Kelly (FF) has died suddenly.
Kelly died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Lissycasey and as word filtered out on Saturday morning it has left a sense of shock and sadness across the county.
An expert in the field of planning, PJ brought the curtain on a fifty year in politics when bowing out of Clare County Council in May prior to the local elections. Indeed following his retirement, PJ continued to receive several representations from the public on a wide range of matters.
First elected to Clare County Council as an Independent in 1974, he prevailed in a total of nine elections, during this time he saw thirteen different colleagues in parishes surrounding him lost their seat. He served alongside a total of 709 elected members of Clare County Council.
He declined offers on several occasions to run for Dáil Éireann, his uncle Seán T Ó Cheallaigh was a former TD.
A background in local drama was a big assistance to PJ mounting a memorable election campaign in 1974 which included speeches outside churches after mass.
He was educated at Lissycasey NS, Rice College, St Pat’s in Dublin and the University of Galway. PJ taught as a primary school teacher in Lisheen for seventeen years and a secondary school teacher in Kilmihil for twenty years, taking early retirement when he became Mayor of Clare in 1997. “When school was over, I was no longer Mr Kelly, I was PJ Kelly, I later helped them with planning applications and by insisting on this, I broke down barriers”. An involvement in social work at this time prompted him to enter local politics. Since the 1960s, he has been a water diviner.
He is one of three politicians in Ireland to have spent over fifty years on a County Council and was the longest ever serving politician from the county. When honoured for this feat in June of last year, he was emotional, “I’m rarely stuck for words but this is an occasion,” he admitted. “When I entered the Council in 1974 I didn’t expect to be around for my fiftieth AGM, I thank the people around me, the people from the disadvantaged area I’m from who have elected me down through the years”.
Prior to his last election in 2019, PJ had hinted he wanted to step down but strong pressure from constituents led to him opting to continue. He went on to be top the poll in the Kilrush local electoral area and for the first time in his political career he was elected on the first count.
Speaking to The Clare Echo when announcing his decision to retire, PJ said, “A time has come, I’ve fifty years done and am one of three in the country. It is time for new blood, I’ve been honoured to have survived fifty years. Five years down the road if I’m around I’ll be a very feeble person, I might be very sharp up here (the mind), physically I get around no problem at the moment. I did indicate at the last election that it would be my last, in fact I decided to pull out the last time but they surrounded me here and they said go, you could see the vote I got”.
Lissycasey was even dubbed ‘Kelly’s highway’ given the improvements in the village including its infrastructure and the introduction of a speed limit.
Contributions from Kelly were always memorable and kept public servants on their toes. His ability to craft sentences and word questions always ensured Council officials had to have their wits about them.
He often quipped that he was “a slow learner” who hailed from “a disadvantaged area” while in latter years his criticism of unelected officials saw him refer to them as “John Joe” with the “woof woof bow wow” his line to equate national politicians as nodding dogs. PJ told The Clare Echo in recent weeks that he understood John Joe had retired to take up a consultancy role. “We haven’t the same level of staffing today, we didn’t know what the word consultant was then and now it’s costing us €100,000 a week, I can’t say everything has changed for the better,” Kelly said when reflecting on the changes in politics.
Work of the late County Manager, Joe Boland who had many achievements was often lauded by the Lissycasey man. They included the introduction of a community grant scheme in 1978 which aided parishes to put a field or community centre in their locality with funding of £9000 provided. He also spearheaded the rollout of the West Clare water scheme, one of the largest in the country at the time, connecting Doolough to Loop Head.
PJ is survived by his wife Maura, children Barry John, Aoife and Alma, grand children, wider family and large circle of friends.
