Leonard Kelly is a Wexford-based Independent politician who has served on Wexford County Council since 2017 and served as Mayor of Wexford Town for the 2020-2021 term. He is an engineer and a trained counselling psychotherapist.
Kelly has been involved in several local organisations and charities, including Friends of It’s Good to Talk, the fundraising wing of a local counselling charity. He has also served as a board member of the Wexford Educate Together Primary School and the Wexford County Childcare Committee.
In March 2014, Kelly announced that he intended to contest the Irish local elections in the Wexford electoral area. Running as an Independent candidate, he narrowly missed election to Wexford County Council after losing on Count 15. He received 499 first-preference votes (3.1%), which put him above Labour candidate Joe Ryan and Fine Gael candidate Jim Allen. Ryan eventually overtook him after the elimination of Ryan’s party colleague Bernie Mullen on Count 11.
In October 2015, Kelly announced that he had joined the Social Democrats, a newly formed political party founded by Independent TDs Stephen Donnelly, Catherine Murphy, and Róisín Shortall.
He contested the 2016 General Election as a Social Democrats candidate. During the campaign, he criticised auction politics while highlighting the need to invest in public services. According to Kelly, a substantial investment in public services would lower the cost of living in Ireland and prevent the need for tax cuts.
Despite a competitive campaign, Kelly was not elected, losing on Count 7. He finished on 2,179 votes and outstayed local councillor and People Before Profit candidate Deirdre Wadding, as well as former Sinn Féin councillor John Dwyer. After the elimination, Kelly thanked his followers and stated that the support had been humbling. He also expressed his desire to continue developing the Social Democrats in County Wexford.
Kelly later left the Social Democrats and returned to running as an Independent. In 2017, he won a seat on Wexford County Council in the Wexford Borough District. He secured re-election in the 2019 local elections, receiving 1,114 first-preference votes (10.34%) and taking the third seat on the fifth count with 1,362 votes. He was re-elected in the 2024 local elections as an Independent candidate, receiving 1,341 first-preference votes (11.8%). He did not contest the 2024 General Election.
This article is a part of our section on Biographies of Wexford people.