The constituency director for Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has deleted his X account after he was asked about a series of provocative social media posts.
John Kelly works in a public-salaried role in the Tánaiste’s office where he manages Harris’s Wicklow constituency operation.
In now-deleted comments on X, Kelly wrote a series of sharp responses to posts from other users that criticised Government policies or commented on news stories.
His comments criticised teachers as work-shy, described the public as “racist” and called US president Donald Trump a “moron” and Britain’s Prince Harry a “snowflake”.
RM Block
On January 25th, 2022, after then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar published draft work-from-home legislation, it was criticised as ineffective by Gregor Kerr, a teacher and activist with the Irish National Teacher Organisation.
Kelly responded to Kerr: “This coming from a teacher, if there was a way not to work, teachers will find it!”
That same month, Kelly tweeted on the issue of people who had not taken a Covid-19 vaccination. He posted: “What about the valuable hospital beds being used by those unvaccinated people?”
He made the comment in response to a user who claimed then minister for health Stephen Donnelly wanted people to “hate anyone unvaccinated”.
That same month, Kelly commented on the release from custody of a man who gardaí had wrongly believed was involved in the killing of Ashling Murphy outside Tullamore. As other users blamed gardaí and lazy reporting for this man’s details being circulated on social media, Kelly wrote, “and a racist public!”
Also in January 2022, as a user complained about the Republic’s Covid restrictions and the high number of cases being detected, Kelly responded: “Misinformed snowflakes!”
In 2020, as broadcaster Andrea Gilligan aired a piece on Newstalk radio describing Leo Varadkar as the “minister for commentary”, Kelly responded, describing Newstalk as the “Fox News” of Ireland and saying it was using “populist sound bites to drive listenership”.
Kelly used his account to make several jibes at US president Donald Trump. In a February 2022 post, he said Trump was a “moron”. He was responding to a Newsweek article where Trump was quoted saying there would be no Nato without him.
In a November 29th, 2020 post, after it became clear that Joe Biden would defeat Trump in the US presidential election, Kelly posted under a Fox News article: “I like winners not losers! Trump, you loser!”
Trump was not the only foreign dignitary to be criticised.
Responding to a Daily Mail report that quoted Prince Harry describing his travel itinerary as “hectic to the point of exhaustion”, Kelly wrote: “Snowflake.”
In another post, Kelly labelled Richard Boyd-Barrett, the People Before Profit-Solidarity TD, a “trust fund kid”.
Many of Kelly’s posts were made in defence of Harris in the face of criticism or attacks from Sinn Féin supporters.
In one, he said: “Your [sic] a SF supporter so you know all about ‘louts’!”
During the Dublin riots in November 2023, when a Garda car was set ablaze, Kelly wrote: “Bet there’s no dole office on fire!”
Despite being contacted on August 5th for comment, there was no response to questions about Kelly’s X account from the Tánaiste’s office. His account was deleted after the questions were received.
On his LinkedIn profile, Kelly said he has been an adviser in the Oireachtas since 2013 “where I use my business skills and knowledge to support and advise legislators on various issues and policies”.
“I also have a background in politics, having served as a campaign manager and strategist for several candidates and causes,” he wrote.
“In addition, I am a Peace Commissioner, a role that allows me to perform civil duties and promote harmony in the community.”
His LinkedIn profile said he moved to the Taoiseach’s office, which includes the Office of the Tánaiste, in April 2024. Harris was Taoiseach between April 2024 and January 2025.
Before working in politics, Kelly listed roles in car sales and car rental businesses.
