Career
He was dismissed as a Justice of the Peace in 1899 for expressing support for the Boers in the South African War. In December 1905, O'Kelly was accused with two others of pressurising a tenant farmer to give up a farm which he had taken over from another who had been evicted. The defendants were released when the jury could not agree on a verdict.
Having held his seat unopposed in 1906, he was re-elected in the local government elections in 1908 despite attacks on him by supporters of the clerical faction. In the January 1910 general election, he ran in South Mayo against the sitting MP, John O'Donnell, of the All-for-Ireland League, and lost by 441 votes. In the December election that year, O'Kelly was reported to have been considered again as a candidate but rejected because of his differences with the local clergy.
