Okelly, Sean Thomas

(Sean T. O Ceallaigh). Born Aug. 25, 1882, in Dublin; died there Nov. 23, 1966. Irish statesman.

O’Kelly joined the Sinn Fein movement and participated in the Easter Rising of 1916. From 1920 to 1922 he was the envoy of Ireland to Italy, and from 1924 to 1926 to the USA. From 1932 to 1945 he held a number of ministerial posts, and from 1945 to 1959 he was president. Ireland was proclaimed a republic in April 1949, during O’Kelly’s presidency. O’Kelly helped develop a program of economic development that was geared toward attracting foreign capital; the program was adopted in 1958.