John Joseph O'Kelly (; known as Sceilg; 7 July 1872 – 26 March 1957) was an Irish republican politician, author and publisher who served as

President of Sinn Féin The president of Sinn Féin () is the most senior politician within the Sinn Féin political party in Ireland. Since 10 February 2018, the office has been held by Mary Lou McDonald, following the decision of Gerry Adams to stand down as leader of ...

from 1926 to 1931,

Minister for Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

from 1921 to 1922, Minister for Irish from 1920 to 1921 and

Leas-Cheann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the Chair (officer), chairperson (or speaker (politics), speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by m ...

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

from 1919 to 1921. He served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

from 1918 to 1921 and 1922 to 1923.

Early years

O'Kelly was born in Coramore, on

Valentia Island Valentia Island () is one of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's most westerly points. It lies in Dingle Bay off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee ...

off the

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

coast, he was the son of Patrick Kelly, a farmer, and Ellen Sullivan. While his birth date is recorded as 7 July 1872, his family gave it as 4 July.

Political career

He joined

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

at its inaugural meeting on 5 November 1905. Following the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

, O'Kelly joined the Irish Nation League and became treasurer of the ''Irish National Aid and Volunteers' Dependants' Fund'' for the relief of prisoners and their families. In February 1917, he was arrested and deported to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

where he was interned without trial for several months. On his release O'Kelly was elected to the Provisional Committee of the newly merged Irish Nation League and Sinn Féin, thereafter called Sinn Féin. He was appointed editor of the influential "''Catholic Bulletin''". In the 1918 general election he was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

by 255 votes in what was the closest contest in Ireland in that election. The closeness of the contest was due to the strong AOH organisation in the county that campaigned for outgoing North Galway MP Richard Hazleton of the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

. O'Kelly took his seat in

as a

TD and was

(deputy chairperson) from 1919 to 1921. He was appointed Minister for Irish in the

Government of the 2nd Dáil There were two governments of the 2nd Dáil, which were ministries of Dáil Éireann, the assembly of Dáil Éireann that was the legislature of the Irish Republic, a unilaterally declared state which lasted from 1919 to 1922. The Second Dáil ...

. This position that was expanded as the

in the Government of the 2nd Dáil. From 1919 to 1923, he was President of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

. He opposed the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...

that was ratified by the Dáil in January 1922, and refused to accept the legitimacy of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

established in December 1922. He and others maintained that the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...

continued to exist and that the rump of the Second Dáil, composed of those anti-Treaty TDs who had refused to take their seats in what became the Free State parliament, was the only legitimate government for the whole of Ireland. In June 1922, he was elected to the

Third Dáil Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

for the constituency of Louth-Meath but abstained from taking his seat. In August 1923, standing as a Republican for the Meath constituency, he was defeated for an abstentionist seat in the

4th Dáil The 4th Dáil was elected at the 1923 general election on 27 August 1923 and met on 19 September 1923. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of the Irish Free State, are known as TDs. It w ...

. He was again defeated in the Roscommon by-election of 1925, his last election attempt. After the resignation of

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

as president of Sinn Féin in 1926, O'Kelly, who maintained an abstentionist policy towards Dáil Éireann, was elected in his place and remained in this position until 1931 when

Brian O'Higgins Brian O'Higgins (; 1 July 1882 – 10 March 1963), also known as Brian na Banban, was an Irish writer, poet, soldier and politician who was a founding member of Sinn Féin and served as President of the organisation from 1931 to 1933. He was a ...

took over the leadership. O'Kelly was hostile towards the 1937

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland (, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executi ...

, claiming it was insufficiently supportive of

Irish Republicanism Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish Republic, Irish republic, void of any British rule in Ireland, British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously ...

and that the Constitution also did not require the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

to be of Irish birth. Sceilg was unusual among Irish Republicans in that he regarded

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

and T.M. Healy as political heroes. This apparently reflected local patriotism (both men came from south-western Ireland near to Sceilg's own birthplace) and Sceilg's own devout Catholicism, which led him to exalt O'Connell's achievement of Catholic Emancipation and Healy's claims that the adultery of

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...

with

Katharine O'Shea Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea and popularly as Kitty O'Shea, was an English woman of aristocratic background whose adulterous relationship with Irish ...

made Parnell unfit for political leadership. Sceilg was also explicitly hostile to the Spanish Republic declared in 1931, believing it to be anti-Catholic and supported by pro-British

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

Literary interests

He was a prolific author on Irish language and history topics, editing ''Banba'', ''The Catholic Bulletin'' and ''An Camán''. He was intensely religious and an active

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. O'Kelly opposed members of the IRA fighting against Franco in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. In 1938, he was one of seven remaining abstentionist

Second Dáil The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

TDs who transferred what they believed was their authority as the Government of the Irish Republic to the

IRA Army Council The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great ...

(see

Irish republican legitimatism Irish republican legitimism denies the legitimacy of the political entities of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and posits that the pre- partition Irish Republic continues to exist. It is a more extreme form of Irish republicanism, w ...

). In 1938, he visited

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, later publishing his impressions in the ''Irish Independent''.''Irish Independent'', 27 March 1957.

Anti-Semitism

Many of O'Kelly's speeches and writings contained content critical of

and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. In 1916, members of Ireland's Jewish community protested after the ''Catholic Bulletin'' published a series of articles by Fr. T.H. Burbage accusing the Jewish community of carrying out ritual murders; O'Kelly refused to apologise for the articles. O'Kelly also featured the anti-semitic writings of Denis Fahey in the Bulletin. In 1930, O'Kelly, speaking as Sinn Féin President to its members, said, "In the signs of the Anti-Christ, England is today the prey of rival groups of unscrupulous Jews fighting for their lands." In 1939 O'Kelly spoke at Cork City Hall and praised

Nazi Germany's Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictator ...

treatment of Jews, saying: " England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity...its seems to me that England prefers to plant the Jews in Ireland, as she planted the

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

s, The Orangemen...How many people in Ireland reflect that the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

placed Germany...with the heel of Jews on her neck...while Jewish usury emaciated and the Jewish White Slave Trade sought to corrupt the whole land".

Death

O'Kelly died in Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, on 26 March 1957, and was buried in

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...

on 28 March.

Bibliography

* ''

Cathal Brugha Cathal Brugha (; born Charles William St John Burgess; 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922) was an Irish republican politician who served as Minister for Defence from 1919 to 1922, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the first presid ...

'', 1942 * ''Taistealuidheacht, nó Cúrsa na Cruinne'' ("Travelling, or A World Tour"), 1931 * ''Spelling Made Easy'', 1946 * ''A Trinity of Martyrs'' (biographies of

Terence McSwiney Terence James MacSwiney (; ; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He was arrested by the British Governme ...

, Cathal Brugha and

Austin Stack Augustine Mary Moore Stack (7 December 1879 – 27 April 1929) was an Irish republican and politician who served as Minister for Home Affairs from 1921 to 1922. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1927. Early life Stack was born in Bally ...

), 1947 * ''Ireland's Spiritual Empire: Saint Patrick as a World Figure'', 1952

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okelly, John J. 1872 births 1957 deaths Antisemitism in Ireland Conradh na Gaeilge presidents Early Sinn Féin TDs Irish nationalists Irish republicans Leaders of Sinn Féin Members of the 1st Dáil Members of the 2nd Dáil Members of the 3rd Dáil Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Louth constituencies (1801–1922) Ministers for education of Ireland Politicians from County Kerry UK MPs 1918–1922 People from Valentia Island