*The coffin of PJ Kelly is carried from Our Lady of The Wayside Church in Lissycasey. Photograph: Tom Micks
SAINT PETER will need to be well versed on planning with the pending arrival of retired councillor and former Chairman of Clare County Council, PJ Kelly (FF) to the pearly gates.
Thousands of mourners were in a sun-drenched Lissycasey on Tuesday and Wednesday for the funeral of PJ Kelly, his native village going all the in paying their respects to a man that they held in the highest of regard. The service included a rendition of ‘Danny Boy’ by his grand-daughter Laura and the recitation of Seamus Heaney’s ‘The Diviner’ by his daughter Alma.
An aide de comp for Tánaiste, Micheál Martin (FF) was in attendance at Our Lady of the Wayside Church alongside Mayor of Clare, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF), former Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen (FF), ex Junior Minister Pat Breen (FG), sitting TD Cathal Crowe (FF) and Senator Timmy Dooley (FF). Retired councillors present to join the guard of honour included Pat McMahon (FF), Michael Hillery (FF) and Gerry Flynn (IND) along with senior officials in the local authority.
PJ’s brother Fr Artie Kelly was the chief celebrant. He thanked the people of Lissycasey who supported the family by lining the streets of the village on his final journey home along the N68 on Monday, “you supported us and we witnessed the esteem with which he was held which has helped us all”. He added, “the impact it had on the family was extraordinary”.
Symbols brought before the altar included a horse to show his love of horses, a red and white jersey belonging to Lisheen where he first taught and a hurley. Both a Lissycasey and Clare flag were draped on the coffin while PJ wore his Clare tie, he was a founding member and first secretary of the Lissycasey GAA club. Prayers were offered for peace, for Government leaders to guide them to work for the people that elected them, for persons that are ill and suffering in communities and to all those working in the health service.
Born on April 18th 1940, PJ was the first born child of Tadhg and Molly Kelly, apart from his schooling and college years, “he spent his whole life in this parish”. Fr Kelly recalled, “I last met him face to face in July, I called in for tea and as usual he was a very good host, we had a very unusual conversation, we weren’t talking about the weather, sport or politics, we talked about the hereafter”.
Barry John, PJ’s son began his reflection by quoting a story whereby two men looked at an epitaph which read ‘here lies an honest man and a great politician, one friend turned to the other and asked why did they bury the two of them together”. He thanked those in attendance “for coming to Lissycasey for celebrating the life of a man known for most of his life as Cllr Kelly”. He spoke of his father’s involvement with the horse show society, the GAA, local and national Government, the pioneer association and the Irish language. “His final journey along the N68 was a poignant but emotional trip. PJ Kelly was both an honest man and a great politician, he was a great public servant, a wonderful family man, a performer and a fluent speaking man, he was a forward thinker”.
This love of the Irish language “flourished” when PJ lived with his uncle Seán while attending second level education in Ennis. Barry John said his father was unaware that plenty of Lissycasey locals referred to him as James Bond due to the number plate of his famous Volkswagen Beetle. He added, “What might be ironic to people is PJ was a man of few words in our home, he was kind to people and kind to animals, he was kind on himself”.
“Someone once told me everyone should have a second career, another said it’s important to have a passion project, his second career began when he became a councillor, it was his true vocation and his passion project. He knew the dark acts of planning law and delivered trademark one-liners. Rumour has it that champagne bottles were popping in the planning department of Clare County Council when he announced his retirement. St Peter better be versed on planning,” Barry John quipped. He admitted off the cuff remarks for PJ may have been plotted for hours in his mind.
Kelly’s involvement in the parish of Lissycasey such as the construction of the church in 1979 designed to resemble a dolmen which Co Clare is famous for, his role in foundling Lissycasey GAA club and acquiring their maroon and white colours from one of the Connolly brothers from Galway in what resembled “an Only Fools and Horses scene”, development of the club’s slogan which translates as ‘loyalty together’ were recounted by his son.
While PJ wasn’t one for self-praise, the development of a 4km stretch of streetlights which contains 132 streetlights did bring immense satisfaction particularly given it is located on ‘Kelly’s Highway’ in Lissycasey.
In an oration at the graveside, Tony Killeen said it was “a particular honour” to be asked by the family to complete the task when reflecting on “a live well lived”. He said, “We heard about PJ, the family man in the Church, and in my experience, family was always number one for him. Anything that we might share from his many public roles is secondary to his absolute commitment to you, his family. He was immensely proud of you, and you can be rightly proud of him”.
Killeen continued, “On the foundation of a stable family life PJ was able to build out into community involvement and his work as a teacher. He took great pride in the community effort that delivered Lissycasey Group Water Scheme. His friend the late Fr. Hogan had a story about a ‘doubting Thomas’ at a very early meeting asking somewhat innocently if he could be assured that his deposit (£20) would be returned if the Scheme fell through. PJ assured him solemnly that if he put his money on the table that he would never again see it. On that ‘courage and pluckiness’, so many community endeavours were successfully delivered”.
High standards were set in the classroom by PJ. “He was intelligent and well- read with a soft spot for pithy quotations particularly from Shakespeare, the classics, and several poets ‘as Gaeilge’. He considered mutilation of the English language by politicians as a particular affront, while being perfectly happy to chat to neighbours in our own preferred dialect. He had an impressive stock of malapropisms uttered by Councillors and others”.
Success was enjoyed at the RDS and elsewhere in the equine industry with Maura holding “equal sway”. He said. “He served on Bord na gCapall and was in demand as a judge at shows the length and breadth of the country. His interest in, and knowledge of vintage tractors and machinery saw him attend events and become a respected figure in that community. His ability to divine for water was shared generously and there are lots of families, around the county and outside of it, who enjoy access to clean water thanks to his intervention. That capacity led to his interest in ley lines and the energy given off by underground water courses and was the subject of our final conversation on Thursday last and his insistence that I address whatever risks arise from living on the fractured bedrock of the Burren”.
In politics, PJ’s fifty year career across nine consecutive elections “is a record that won’t be easily equalled much less bettered,” the former Clare TD commented. “We are gradually adding from memory to the store of pithy ‘one liners’ that he loved to remember. My personal favourite was when he reminded the somewhat garrulous and overbearing American developer that he was ‘in Doonbeg, not Baghdad’. His term as first citizen of Co. Clare drew widespread praise from all political quarters and independent observers. PJ’s abiding interest in Planning arose from his acute awareness that local communities could only flourish if local people as well as newcomers could build houses and reside in the area. It troubled him deeply that national policies seemed to militate against local communities all across rural Co. Clare. He had well documented battles with Limerick Harbour Commissioners, whom he regarded as having a noose around any prospects of developing the potential of the Shannon Estuary.
“PJ took the honour of being an elected member very seriously. The people had placed their trust in him, and he was determined to repay it. He was extraordinarily hard working and committed. It would be an extremely ill-advised move for officials in any agency to try to hide the facts from him. He would pursue the truth with courage and vigour. In this he was sometimes misunderstood but for PJ it was business not personal, and he was merely doing his duty. The Irish State would have saved a fortune in tribunal costs if enough of us had applied the same fearless diligence to holding the agents of the State to account. Despite this questioning approach, he could count the vast majority of the public officials, whom he encountered, as his friends. Likewise, he could joust with political opponents and continue to have cordial relations with them. He was one of the promoters of ‘power sharing’ in Clare County Council He had a very low tolerance level for those whom he considered shysters, bluffers or hypocrites particularly in public life and he would sometimes chide himself for being unable ‘to smile and smile and be a villain’ towards them.
“He would like me to share the story of ‘the Old Ground Seven’ back in 1992 or the ‘Shannon Airport Saga’ when we were all out of step with what PJ called Dublin FF and I promise that I will, and soon, but today isn’t the day for that. He was always gathering material for ‘the Book’ but he was so busy that he didn’t get time to pull it together. It’s a very great pity that he didn’t but some of the material would hardly have got past the legal advisors,” Killeen said and concluded, “There will never be another PJ”.
