Owen O'Shea's Blog
Occasional meanderings and insights into Kerry’s past with a focus on electioneering, election results, key political figures, political culture, and the dramatic ups and downs of politics in the county over the past century.
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Kerry Ministers of State, 1924 to 2025
Since the position of Minister of State (previously Parliamentary Secretary) was established in 1924, just twelve Kerry TDs have held junior ministerial positions. The Ministers and Secretaries Act of 1924
Forthcoming book based on memoir of key figure in Irish republicanism
In this unrepentant and revealing memoir, (publishing March 2025), Dan Mulvihill, a leading figure in Irish republicanism recounts his fight for an Irish Republic over several decades and his central
The only Kerry TD at the first meeting of Dáil Éireann
At 3.30 on the afternoon of 21 January 1919 a group of twenty-seven men gathered in the Round Room of the Mansion House in Dublin. Just a month previously, each
The Kerry MP who was Ireland’s first Olympic winner
As the Paris Olympics get underway, it is worth remembering that Ireland’s first Olympic winner had a close Kerry connection. John Pius Mary Boland was the Member of Parliament for
Fron-goch: the corner of Wales which will be forever Ireland
If you were a passerby on the A-4212 regional road and were unaware of the significance of the site, the only thing that might draw your eye and rouse your
“Castleisland swam in porter … and drunkenness prevailed”
The extraordinary tale of bribery and booze during the County Council election of 1908 When proceedings began at the courthouse in Castleisland at one o’clock on a warm summer afternoon
Tralee and the Easter Rising of 1916
Oration by Owen O’Shea at the Tralee Municipal District Easter Rising Commemoration in Páirc an Phiarsaigh, Trá Lí on Easter Sunday, 2024 Though 108 years have now passed since the
New research on fatalities in Kerry during the Civil War
The Civil War was more violent, brutal and protracted in County Kerry than anywhere else in the country. New research published by University College Cork identifies the location and affiliation
1923 election campaign in Kerry features in new book
The research of Kerry writer and historian, Owen O’Shea, features in a new book on the 1923 general election. Vying for Victory, edited by Elaine Callinan, Mel Farrel and Thomas
Dark days in Kerry: the murder of Sgt James Woods in 1923 and its shocking aftermath
On 3 December 1923, Garda Sergeant James Woods was murdered during an armed robbery at Scartaglin Garda Station in rural Kerry. In the days and weeks which followed, a young
New memoir of ‘Chub’ O’Connor to be published
The first ever account of the life and times of the former Fianna Fáil TD, county councillor, greyhound owner and successful businessman, Timothy ‘Chub’ O’Connor will be published in his
The TD who was too young to vote for herself
The extraordinary and dramatic story of the 1956 by-election in Kerry North and the candidate who was too young to vote for herself When the Clann na Poblachta TD for
