Mission Statement

MISSION STATEMENT

Our Association has been in existence for nearly 20 years.
Our Ó Kelly bloodline is traceable to the far distant regions of time, so it’s time we told people what we are about.
As you read through the website, you will see many subjects and topics are covered.
By doing this we hope to capture the ethos of the greater Ó Kelly family. This should help to guide you towards what your Ó Kelly ancestors were doing and what they were interested in, how they lived, loved and died. In other words, what they were about and how the events of history shaped their lives, then and now.
We are all volunteers and do what we can to further our clan interests and keep the clan profile live.
Through our DNA project we have established that some of our members are of the Ó Ceallaigh/ Ó Brien line. Ó Ceallaigh/ Ó Neill and others of the Uí Maine line, as is our Clan Chief, Count Walter Ó Kelly. We feel this pedigree allows us to state we are the authentic organisation of the greater Ó Kelly sept.
We hope this site and our association will be a focal point of friendship and contact for Ó Kellys worldwide. We also acknowledge our clan allies of the past and look forward to continuing our alliance and good fellowship in the future. Furthermore, we want to let people know what an interesting historical and ancient clan the Ó Kellys are. As long as the association exists then the great Ó Kelly legacy will continue and grow.

At Christmas 1351 William Bui Ó Ceallaig – Chief of Uí Maine – issued an invitation to the poets, writers and artists of Ireland to a great feast in his castle at Knockoroghory, Co Roscommon. The gathering was known for William Bui’s hospitality and generosity and supposedly lasted a month! William Bui’s words of welcome to his guests are recorded for all time in the following verse.

The O’Ceallaig Welcome (Failte Ui Ceallaigh)

“A blessed, long living, great, courteous welcome,
An affectionate, charitable, just, proper, true hearted welcome, A welcome and twenty, and I add hundreds to them,
Like the surge of the stream is my welcome to you”.