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OVER A DOZEN framed photos of key milestones in Alan Kelly’s career are displayed on the desk in his office.
Standing proudly with his family, the pictures show his first day in the Seanad, his first day as an MEP and his first day taking his seat in the Dáil.
There are also a number of photographs of his children, Aoibhe and Senan, aged five and six, as well as one of “the college lads” from over 10 years ago.
No longer in government-reserved offices, Kelly now occupies former Labour senator Kathleen O’Meara’s old digs, located down a long corridor next to the Dáil bar.
Over his desk hangs an official, embossed letter about the 2015 marriage referendum being passed, while the wall opposite is adorned with an autographed Manchester United jersey.
As TheJournal.ie sits down with him for a pre-Christmas interview, the Tipp man wants people to know that there is a lot more to Alan Kelly than just Irish Water (though charges are an issue he refuses to let go of, despite being in opposition).
The Tipperary TD – nicknamed AK47 – is a Thin Lizzy fan, he likes to cook during his free time and the only TV he watches these days is Paw Patrol (although he is making his way through Luther on Netflix when he can).
He was born and raised in Portroe, near Lough Derg in Tipperary, which he describes as “absolutely the best place in the world” because of its sense of community.
House fire
The father-of-two was raised on a small, subsidised farm with about 15 odd cows, he says, though his parents also had to go out to work.
Their home burned to the ground in the mid-1970s when Kelly’s mother was pregnant with him – a hardship that he and his family remained conscious of throughout his years growing up.
“Things weren’t easy, but our family is a very united family. My grandparents, my uncles, aunts… we are all very close-knit.”
Prior to his political career, Kelly worked as an eBusiness manager with Bord Fáilte and Fáilte Ireland, setting up discoverireland.com and a tourism data system for the organisations.
So why politics?
I come from a Labour family, it’s been that way for generations.
My mother is involved in everything in the community. My father has a great sense of social justice, a great sense of fairness, very much driven.
While his only brother Declan Kelly (chairman and CEO of Teneo Holdings, which provides consulting services to some of the world’s biggest companies) headed off to live in New York, Alan set his sights on public office.
“It is very enjoyable. Politics is very worthwhile when you can achieve things. I was showing you a thank you letter there from Amanda Mellet and her representatives. It motivates you to help people.”
Last month Mellet was offered €30,000 from the government after the UN’s Human Rights Commission ruled that Ireland had subjected Mellet to “discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” because of its laws against abortion, which forced her to have to travel abroad.
But the political game hasn’t been plain sailing for the Labour TD.
Sharing power in the last government, the Labour party made big promises with many criticising that it failed to deliver and were railroaded by Fine Gael.
Images of the then-Education Minister Ruairi Quinn signing a four-foot pledge not to introduce student fees as well as Eamon Gilmore’s infamous election motto ‘Frankfurt’s way’ promise were difficult for voters to forget.
Irish Water
In his environment portfolio, Kelly was in charge of housing, local government, climate change and the most politically toxic – Irish Water.
While Kelly still maintains that Labour in government managed to achieve a lot (naming the marriage referendum and legislating for the X case as examples) he admits the party perhaps didn’t inform the public “just how bad things were”.
“In relation to how we communicated and related the decisions we had to take, we certainly didn’t do as well as we should,” he admits.
Does he think Fine Gael shafted him by giving him Irish Water? Kelly says he honestly doesn’t know, but he believes his predecessor Phil Hogan wasn’t fully prepared.
Phil Hogan didn’t have the eye on the ball for a substantial amount of time in that department in the sense that he knew he was leaving. He wasn’t crossing the Ts and dotting the Is in the sense that he wasn’t challenging certain things being put forward and certainly, in that sense, I was left a poisoned chalice.
“There was crisis after crisis. I mean it was endless. Everything seemed to be in my department. And then the cherry on top was we had flooding at the very end. It was a perfect storm of issues.”
But it was water charges that landed him in the most heat. With non-compliance from the public on the rise and thousands taking to the streets holding placards with the minister’s face on them, it’s safe to say Kelly wasn’t the most popular minister.
Abuse
When asked if he was unsettled by criticism, Kelly even seems bothered by the question, making it clear he doesn’t want to harp on about the death threats and abuse he received.
Kelly first revealed he had been warned by gardaí that there were threats against his life on RTÉ’s Saturday Night with Miriam last year.
“For me it was a very difficult time,” he said, adding that there were hundreds of thousands of abusive comments made about him.
Kelly said he wouldn’t be human if it didn’t perturb him, but that he was worried about his family and those who worked with him.
“You name it, I got it,” he says. “Did it worry me? Of course, it worried me. Like there were times when I would not walk the streets of Dublin. There were times when I had to walk into a pub or a shop just to make sure I was not being followed, or I was being followed.
I had numerous issues with people coming up to me, tonnes of them. I had some very scary moments.
“My wife, my parents, the lads in the office in particular, they had extremely scary moments and it was very worrying for them. I spent a lot of time worrying about personal security for them.”
While he thinks social media is “brilliant”, he also describes it as “very dangerous”.
I have seen everything. Anything that can be written about me probably has been written about me.
I have been named every name under the sun, they have said some of the most incredible hurtful things about my family. For me, that says more about them than it does about me and I will tell you straight out – I have one message you can get across, every single one them only motivates me more.
However, Kelly said he had to have a sense of humour at the time about it all.
On one day, there was a protest in Merrion Square with some 20,000-odd people in attendance.
“It was funny because I am big into The Frames and Damien Dempsey and they were singing there on stage and I said to the lads in work, ‘I think I’ll go out’. No, I don’t think so, they said.”
Despite not being in government anymore – and not being a minister – Kelly continues to speak about water charges. It’s no longer in his remit, so why take on the trouble?
I am not going to be a hypocrite. In fact I am the total opposite. I am more steadfast.
Water charges
Kelly says he has more sympathy for Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney in relation to the housing crisis, than he does for the Irish Water situation. He is also adamant that his water charges regime will be introduced, stating:
“I can absolutely guarantee you that this country will end up back with some version as to what I brought in.”
“Everyone talks about water, very few people talk about waste. And we all know what waste really is. That really nice stuff is going on to the beaches in areas like Lahinch, Ennistymon and many other parts of the country, where kids are playing.
They need billions of investment and yet people will be jumping up and down when a crisis happens or when they see that beaches are closed or rivers are polluted. Water and waste will never be on top of the list. It is never sexy enough in terms of political issues when it comes to hospitals, schools or investment in capital works.
While Kelly might understand the pressure that Coveney is under of late, he has never been one to hold the punches when it comes to his colleagues in the Dáil.
Earlier this month he had some stinging words for Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor.
“I had questions with her a few weeks ago and I said afterwards, I thought it was the worst I had ever seen. Now I have nothing personal against the lady, she is a sincere lady, I am sure, but I felt that her performance that day for me was very worrying,” he says.
When asked if there was an element of sexism at play in relation to the criticism O’Connor has been facing, he said no.
No, not for me, I could see how that gets thrown out there. I am a very straight-talking person. Gender is irrelevant. It is based on policy, competence etc.
Having spent a significant amount of his time as minister on climate change, it is not surprising he does not have kind words to say about Danny Healy-Rae’s climate change denials either.
You know the standard there, sure. It’s say something mad and get attention, have a good laugh and everyone’s talking about you. That’s what that is. He believes in Noah’s Ark. Lord God.
The Tipperary man also has a few scathing words for left-leaning parties in the Dáil, saying he hates populist politics.
This was also something he raised on TV this week – but it was pointed out that Labour had been guilty of something similar in the past. (Who can forget that 2011 poster which has been widely shared and updated).
“There are a number of people in other political entities and espouse a populist notion that everyone can have everything and no one has to pay for anything. That we just tax the wealthy and then everybody can have every service they want. That’s just rubbish, it is just complete garbage. It is utopian economics,” says Kelly.
At the end of the day, at any given time there is a pie of money in this country and politics is about policies and choices and it is about making decisions on your priorities and your philosophy. You don’t miraculously create a bigger pie so everyone can have everything. You try and create a bigger pie by expanding the economy and trying to be fair, but these people that are going around and saying that you can everything for nothing … I despise it.
However, despite all the difficulties faced in government, Kelly finds himself sitting rather close to those he calls populist in the opposition benches.
The Labour party’s representation in national parliament was demolished in the last election, falling from 37 to just seven.
Which brings us to THAT image of the TD in the count centre, which was described by comedian Oliver Callan on this week’s Claire Byrne Live programme as the “sex face” photo.
The photo taken on count day during the last general election shows Kelly being hoisted by his supporters after the news reaches him that he retained his seat.
Broadcaster and former politician Ivan Yates told Claire Byrne that he had been “totally unaware” of the reference. “So was I,” said Kelly with a grin on his face.
When asked about the photo by TheJournal.ie, Kelly answers:
“No regrets. No regrets.”
He explains that a lot of his good friends lost their seats that day, and the image captured the relief he felt upon hearing he had been re-elected.
“Everyone knows Tipperary is an extraordinarily difficult constituency. Everyone knows the pressure I had been under in the years previous. I was out of the constituency a bit as well. There were some individuals that were taking part in some of the most heinous benign attacks and abuse on me and my party.
I suppose what happened to me in terms of my celebration was, despite all of that, we got there. All my supporters were there, my family were there and it was an incredible campaign. For me it was a kind of release and a feeling of success more for them than for me.
“What happened that day by getting elected, it was to celebrate that despite everything that was thrown at us that we got back in Tipperary and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
His fight to be leader
After getting elected, more controversy followed Kelly but this time it was from inside the party.
Failing to get any of his fellow party members to second him for leader of the Labour party, Brendan Howlin was elected. At the announcement in Dublin’s Royal College of Physicians, there was one notable absence in the room. Alan Kelly.
So why was he a no show? Was he simply in a huff?
“I didn’t think it was my role that day being honest with you,” adding that he has “moved on” from all that.
While he said the leadership contest is behind him, he also says it is in front of him. The Tipperary TD doesn’t blink when he says the leadership is in his future.
There’s nothing wrong with ambition. I think actually Irish people admire self-confidence and ambition but I think that some people try and portray in a way that is begrudgery. I think begrudgery often comes from those who maybe are afraid of going to achieve what they want to achieve or perhaps haven’t put their head above the parapet.
The 41-year-old also believes Labour will do quite well in the next general election.
I think people are starting to realise that this absolutely joke of a Dail, this do-nothing Dáil is just from one farce to the next.
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They should take the Pope down for a look when he’s over.
He could give the nuns absolution and all would be ready to start over again with a clean slate.
@Gerry Ryan deG: he should certainly be taken there to visit, but nobody gets a clean slate on this. When he visits he should personally hand over compensation to the countless victims of religious abuses that are still awaiting payments.
The hope for the church when it comes to compensation is to drag it out long enough until all the victims are dead, the only thing the church cares about is itself and its pockets.
@Barry Somers: Bernard law to get a cardinals send off in St Peters with the PR pope attending.. That’s what Rome thinks of its victims http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/12/20/cardinal-bernard-law-funeral-pope-francis-statement/
Dunno who is worse. The government or the Catholic Church.
@Trevor W: governments can be good or bad, &they can cause hurt or pain as well as do good things.. .we all know that but people expected much more of the catholic church because it was supposed to be holy, godly &Christian. People believed it was caring, truthful, loving Christ -like &compassionate & instead found it to be anything but. in short the catholic church was much worse because it showed itself up as lacking in basic morals, deceitful, uncaring, unloving &concerned only with protecting its image & grabbing money every chance it could get
@Trevor W: Sinn Fein arevtge worst. Then the church then the government
@Trevor W: There was a time that they were one in the same.
When he says “We are all now complicit”, I sincerely hope he is referring to elected representatives who are paid to look after these matters and have the platform to do so, and not the majority of us who spend most of our time working to keep the country running and pay their wages
@JimmyMc: we are all complicit though. We are not forcing the issue with the representatives who are meant to work to achieve what we want.
It’s an absolute disgrace so many places are sold off and bulldozed and the horrors that happened within all but forgotten. It’s not just magdelene laundries but all the mental institutions. People were locked away for all their lives and forgotten by the world. Their treatment was horrendous too. Now no one speaks about those poor people and the institutions are sold off and turned into things like luxury hotel. We have whole sections of society we locked up and treated badly and neglected. We should remember them all properly.
@Catherine Sims: The industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries are all a thing of the past. They were horrendous places, but they belong to history now, those injustices against men, women and children do not happen today.
@Catherine Sims: yes, curious there was enough will and money to develop them into exclusive/elitist/yuppie housing complexes/gated communities acceptable and desirable for the few who could afford them but not for the unfortunate inmates dealing with barrack like vast nightingale wards… Look up Friern Barnet hospital, north London and see how it evolved from an institution to an, eh, institution…
@Tom&Gerry: there should never be forgotten. Burying heading in sand will not make this go away.
Perhaps you should receive compensation from the tax payer for having to grow up near a Magdelan Laundry. Speak to a solicitor. You are a victim too after all!
@Don Shavago: Dumped Christian White already?
Everyone reading this should be aware that this memorial will cause more pain and horror to the men and women who were in orphanages and are still living today, the grown women who made and had choices are thought of more than the kids imprisoned for 14years by courts, we are the children of these women
@David Dineen: what??
@David Dineen: Catholic Church is a corrupt institution and always will be, Why,!! Because it puts its Trust in Wealth, making Money from every conceivable angle, from the day your born to the day you Die. The only way to break that cycle is, break out of it don’t let yourself be ‘Used’ ‘Abused’ by this profiteering religion. And now to Insult us all, our Government is going to pay out €20 millions on the visit of the leader of this Rich money making Machine. !!!
@Mairtín: so how do the church make money out of people? €2 in a collection plate on a Sunday?
Think about it.
You’re talking absolutely bollixxx
@David Dineen: what choices did these women have?
@Mairtín: No The church is paying for the visit
@Steph Duffy:
These women had no choices but the men who made them pregnant definitely got away with not facing up to their responsibilities.
@marg fitzgerald: and where does the church get their money?
@Tom Burke: two plates passed around per service, paying money (€50) to have someone remembered in a mass, more again to have a mass said for them. Christening, Education, Communion, Confirmation, Wedding, Funeral. At every step there’s the church with the hand extended for a bit of wheel grease. Indulgences haven’t entirely gone away either
@Dave O Keeffe:
None of which are compulsory .
@Mairtín: The problem for you is that Ireland is a Catholic country. For me and my family and millions of Catholics in this country, it would be an honor to have the pope visit.
@Dave O Keeffe: And why not, are you saying that priests should not be paid for their time. . Priests have living expenses the same as everyone else. You are not forced take part or participate in any way with anything to do with the church, you are obviously anti catholic. So i suggest you stop bothering yourself with the affairs of a church you have no time for. Just walk away, nobody will stop you.
@Mairtín: I would imagine that all churches survive on donations from their congregations. How else would they survive?
@Tom&Gerry: so your saying a priests wages comes solely from the voluntary offerings of the parish in which he serves? That’s absolute bull. I’m not anti-catholic at all, Catholicism does a world of good for a lot of people but there is no denying the organisations obvious wealth and the corrupt nature of the business side of it. The fact that anyone not donating would have to do so in view of the whole congregation brings another element to it.
@Dave O Keeffe: bullxxxx Dave.
You get a mass said and it’s typically €10 but you decide what you give.
Yes you make a contribution for a wedding or a christening but it’s nominal and if you can’t afford it it’s no problem.
For the wedding the couple and guests will arrive at a clean heated church which is provided.
Go to your local village tomorrow and walk into any premises shop, pub, restaurant, solicitor etc. Very soon you will be approached and the goal is to get your money.
Walk into your church. No charge.
You can go into that church every day of your life and never pay 1c, and you will be as welcome the next day.
You are not being truthful and you know it.
someone please ask micheal woods doctor of tomatoes what sort of crack cocaine he was smoking when he did a lousy deal to help the church out with its compensation deal to the victims of anal rape rape of women and imprisonment of it s flock .
ask michael martin why he voted for its approval maybe.
I wonder about places like this being preserved, “lest we forget.” If you visit “Auschwitz,” apart from the “Work Will Set You Free” over the entrance gates and a huge warning sign shortly after that, the amount of people laughing, joking and taking selfies, you have to wonder if you haven’t stepped into another (albeit morbid,) section of Disneyworld. The visitor’s centre full of memorabilia, dvds, cards and keepsakes also serve to dilute the horror of the place. There has to be a better way of putting a stop on man’s inhumanity to man…
How much would it be to get a few clothes washed? I need a dog bed cleaned too.
Ip
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