*PJ Kelly is lifted shoulder high after his election in 2019. Photograph: Martin Connnolly
TRIBUTES have been paid across the political divide to the late PJ Kelly (FF), a former Mayor of Clare and county councillor for fifty years.
Lissycasey native Kelly died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday morning. Funeral details have been announced, his reposal will take place at Our Lady of the Wayside Church, Lissycasey on Tuesday (September 17th) from 4pm to 8pm with the funeral mass on Wednesday at 12pm with burial afterwards in the local cemetery.
A giant of a political figure in the county, PJ’s contributions have been remembered with fondness since word of his passing emerged on Saturday.
Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) said he was “very shocked and very saddened” with the news. He said they spoke as recently as Friday evening on the phone. “PJ was a great friend and highly valued political mentor of mine. We would speak several times a week and, indeed, only had our last phone conversation on Friday evening. PJ was an incredible public representative for West Clare over decades, the decades part must be emphasised because PJ won a seat on Clare County Council in 9 successive elections and his political career spanned 50 years”.
Deputy Crowe added, “PJ was a guru on all things planning and took great pride in knowing sections and sub-sections of both the Planning Act and Local Government Act in great detail. Every speech he made in the Council chamber was memorable and new entrants to politics would do well to study PJ’s ability to say everything with a loaded one-liner that would invariably make the newspaper headlines later in the week. PJ loved horses, horse breeding, his VW Beetle and he had the incredible gift of being able to divine for water – it worked every time. There will never be the likes of PJ Kelly again”.
Ex Clare TD and former Junior Minister, Pat Breen (FG) was also “shocked and saddened” upon hearing the news. “I was his very first pupil in national school back in the 60s and we were great friends down through the years despite our different political allegiances”.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) said that the Lissycasey man encouraged her to throw her name forward for the General Election in 2020 and the upcoming election. “What a stalwart in Fianna Fáil, he was passionate about achieving the best outcomes for the people of Clare and he was particularly dedicated to his parish of Lissycasey. He was a great mentor to me in the party over many years and in the six months of my co-option to Clare County Council. He encouraged me to contest the 2020 General Election and for the next campaign. When we spoke recently, he advised me on a point of procedure/ He still had that same passion and was still receiving council calls”.
Mayor of Clare, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) recalled that he had the “pleasure of sitting beside the great councillor PJ Kelly for ten years until he retired last June”. According to Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG), PJ was “one of a kind in every good way possible to think of”.
For half of Kelly’s term on the Council, he served alongside Cllr Pat Daly (FF) who commented, “Over 25 years I worked closely with PJ Kelly on Clare County Council. Never short of a witty one liner or pithy comment he was a fountain of knowledge on all things planning. He was a great representative for Lissycasey and Clare and a great mentor for any fledgling councillors coming into the council. He will be sorely missed”.
In a statement, Lissycasey GAA club noted it was “a sad week” for the parish off the field. “While it was a great weekend for Lissycasey GAA on the playing fields with victory in the under 13 Division 1 football championship final and qualification to the Clare senior football quarter final, the sudden death of former club secretary and one of the founders of the current club, P.J. Kelly has left the area in shock.
“P.J’s passing came just a day after the death of two more long serving members of the community in John Talty, Crown and Mick Sexton, Benedin. Recently retired after fifty consecutive years as a member of Clare County Council, PJ. Kelly is one of only three people in the country to achieve such a feat. He was central to numerous developments in the parish as well as throughout West Clare. He was first elected to Clare County Council in 1974, he was returned by a comfortable majority from then until he retired this year.
“Secretary and one of the founding members of the present Lissycasey GAA club in 1966, he was chairman of the club’s development committee in the late seventies leading to the development of the main pitch in Lissycasey which was officially opened in 1982. In the sixties he served as secretary of Lisheen hurling club and at the time he was the principal at Lisheen national school. He later took up a teaching position at St Michael secondary school in Kilmihil where he taught until his retirement.
“Earlier this year at a function hosted by Lissycasey GAA honouring the surviving members of the club’s junior championship team of 1963, P.J was one of those honoured for his role as club secretary and also as a player in those years. Over the past fifty years Lissycasey has had many successes in Scor, the GAA talent competitions and in 1977 the club won the senior novelty act title in Clare. The short play was written by P.J. who together with Mary Spain and the late P.J. Daly presented the act which went all the way to the Munster final. Before the club’s senior championship play off with Kildysart at Kilmihil on Saturday evening, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of P.J, John Talty and Mick Sexton”.
