Waterford former fisherman behind smears against presidential candidate
Kelly is a former Waterford fisherman, now understood to be living in Indonesia.
A former Waterford fisherman is at the centre of a furore over unsubstantiated attacks against presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
Kieran Kelly, a self-styled environmentalist and ‘registered Republican’ created a large number of social media posts about the candidate’s personal life, family and alliances.
In a recent article by Conor Gallagher for The Irish Times, Mr Kelly claimed that his posts were "in response to what he claimed were attempts by the Irish Coalition to interfere in the US presidential election". He declined to proffer any evidence for the allegations, only remarking that they would be available at a later date.
The litany of social media posts have attracted attention both online and off, with the former Dublin GAA manager criticising the "invented and utterly false" allegations.
Mr Gavin said: "I refuse to accept that the price of participating in public life should involve having to put your family and friends through waves of online abuse and malicious smears. This is not the cost of service – it is a failure of our digital culture."
Meta and TikTok have removed some of the posts, but many remain on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mr Kelly moved to the United States in the 1990s and later became a naturalized citizen. He is understood to now be living in Indonesia. In 2024, he was successfully sued for €500,000 for spreading 'defamatory claims' on social media against a business rival.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin spoke in support of Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin and confirmed that Meta had removed some of the posts. Taoiseach Martin told The Sunday Times Ireland that the allegations seem to be part of a "far-right playbook".
He said: "This seems to me part of the playbook of elements within the far right to literally say whatever they want to say, without any basis to it. To just invent stories, to undermine politics, to undermine legitimate candidates and the legitimacy of those candidates and cause hurt to families."
