*Mourners at the funeral of PJ Kelly in Lissycasey. Photograph: Tom Micks
MONDAY’s meeting of Clare County Council was fully adjourned as a mark of respect to the late PJ Kelly (FF).
Fifteen minute adjournments are a frequent occurrence within the local authority but the Council’s decision to call a full adjournment demonstrated the regard and esteem with which the Lissycasey native was held in.
Kelly died peacefully yet suddenly on Saturday September 14th. He had retired in June from local politics after fifty years as an elected member of Clare County Council where he was returned in nine successive elections. Although, he was no longer a councillor the former Mayor of Clare was still actively engaged and dealing with constituents.
Proposing the adjournment which he acknowledged “normally doesn’t happen”, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) noted, “It is a sad occasion, last June we sat here in Chamber where my colleague Cllr PJ Kelly was beside us and unfortunately PJ didn’t get long to enjoy his retirement”. Having been on the Council for half of Kelly’s term, Hayes said it was a pleasure to learn from him, “he was an encyclopaedia of knowledge, he studied everything on planning in great depth, it is an illustrious career for anyone to serve for fifty years, he is one of only three. It was fitting that the Council paid tribute to him, the timing was perfect and we did something right, PJ was humbled and emotional on that day. It was good we paid tribute to him”.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) stated, “PJ Kelly was a fantastic man, I learned a lot from him since I came into the Council twenty years ago. It is so sad that PJ went so fast after he went from the Council, he was sad leaving the Council after 50 years that shows the type of dedicated man he was. What he achieved was simply unbelievable and what he done for the people of his constituency and our county has been unbelievable”.
Kelly was unique in that he had “a niche interest”, Cllr Michael Begley (IND) outlined, “he pursued planning aspects to the nth degree under all of the headings mentioned already, he had a strong and in-depth knowledge of planning, there are very few councillors as strongly into one subject as PJ Kelly was, he was an encyclopaedia of planning issues and everything that affected Rural Clare and Ireland”.
Regardless of party allegiances, PJ was quick to help all councillors, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) recounted. “PJ was a good friend and advisor, he would pick up the phone and ring you an issue if you raised something in the Chamber, he wasn’t shy in giving his opinion”. Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) recalled that he was advised by Kelly to “slow down” when talking on the radio because nobody could understand him, “I felt it was important to be here today to pay tribute to PJ. You always got a turn of phrase no matter what you got,” the Shannon representative who was one of eleven councillors physically present at the meeting said.
In Co Clare, PJ’s service of fifty years will not be matched, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) predicted. “He could recite planning acts without any planning book in front of him. Lissycasey was far from a disadvantaged area let me tell you, it is PJ Kelly’s highway, it has seen a huge transformation and it is all down to PJ Kelly”.
Looking across the Chamer and seeing PJ’s chair empty was “very odd” and “very strange,” Cllr Mary Howard (FG) felt. “He was a lovely old soul, he served with my father, the connection with that Chamber is gone with Bill Chambers, Pat McMahon and PJ Kelly no longer in the Chamber. He was a great character who kept us and everyone else at the top table on our toes. He was a wonderful public servant and he won’t be forgotten too easily”.
How PJ kept Chief Executive and Planning Regulator at the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR), Niall Cussen during a course with elected members nationally was recalled by Cllr Joe Killeen (FF). “It was coming up to the 1pm lunch break, he (Cussen) had a sea of hands in front of him for the last question and he made the mistake of letting PJ Kelly speak, he said his few words and asked Niall Cussen explain what visually vulnerable meant in planning, he didn’t know PJ still had the mic his hand and then he proceeded to asked on Flemish decree, he had such a knowledge on planning, I enjoyed the sword fighting he had with the now supremo in Galway”.
Passion was evident from PJ whether it was attending Fianna Fáil or Council meetings, Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) said. “In the last meeting I had with him at his house, we had a great discussion on planning and irregularities, he kept that passion and he offered me his planning book”.
Solid advice was always forthcoming from Kelly, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) said, “He got a wonderful send-off, it was well deserved, he will be missed. He was a man with fantastic intelligence when it came to factual information”.
As the first Fianna Fáil female councillor in Clare, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) was able to recall that PJ was among the first to ring her to congratulate her following her 2014 election. “It was a call of congratulations but to extend welcome and an ear if I ever needed guidance, I can only describe him as a gentleman. As the first Fianna Fáil female councillor in Clare, it was new to me and my colleagues but PJ was always a gentleman even when we did have differences of opinions which we did”. She praised “his unstinting service to people of Clare especially in his final term, he said to me he was so weary but he couldn’t stop the service, it was part of who he was”.
Cllr Pat Burke (FG) said they shared an interest in farming and a mutual respect, “The last time I spoke to him was horse show in Scariff. We clicked straight away from the first day I was in the Council, opposite parties didn’t matter, he liked farmers and people from rural Clare”.
To be one of the longest serving councillors in the history of local Government in Ireland was “a huge achievement,” Council Chief Executive Pat Dowling said. “He had fifty years of stories and lots of good memories, plenty of banter as well as of course, debate which often got hot and heavy as we know”. Dowling continued, “He was forever comparing me to Joe Boland, the former County Manager who served for 25 years with PJ, I don’t know if it was a compliment or insult but it was well meant, respect for people was always there. We will miss the language of the Chamber, expressions like slow learner, woof woof and bow wow, there was a whole vocabulary generated in his fifty years and we will all miss that”.
