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Hermann Kelly
Hermann Patrick Kelly (born 25 December 1968) is an Irish anti-immigration activist, politician, press officer and former journalist. He served as president of the far-right Irish Freedom Party (IFP) from its foundation in September 2018. As of October 2025, Kelly's leadership of the IFP was reportedly in dispute. Kelly has worked as an assistant to the Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș and Danish MEP Anders Vistisen.
Kelly was born on 25 December 1968 and is originally from the Bogside in Derry. His father was a headmaster of a primary school in Creggan, his mother was a nurse who emigrated from Australia and he has three siblings.
His secondary education was at St Columb's College, Derry. He then studied marine biology in Edinburgh before studying theology as a lay student at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. He briefly worked as a teacher in Dublin.
As a journalist, Kelly was a contributing columnist to the Irish Examiner, and also wrote for the Irish Mail on Sunday. Following the resignation of editor Simon Rowe in mid-2004, Kelly was briefly acting editor (and later deputy editor) of The Irish Catholic.
In 2007, Kelly wrote a book titled Kathy's Real Story which disputed the claims made in a book by Kathy O'Beirne (Don't Ever Tell), in which O'Beirne described childhood abuse she had reputedly suffered in a Magdalene asylum. Kelly claimed that initial doubts that he had while reading her book were confirmed by inconsistencies in different accounts which O'Beirne had given, and later confirmed by various witnesses and documentary evidence. He also claimed that false allegations were being made by those appearing before the Residential Institutions Redress Board in order to receive compensation.
A review by Gene Kerrigan (who worked alongside Michael Sheridan, O'Beirne's co-author) criticised Kelly's own criticism of O'Beirne's book. Kelly and O'Beirne both appeared on Ireland AM to discuss their books in November 2007, and the encounter ended in an argument.
Kelly also wrote to the proposed publishers of a sequel by O'Beirne, sending them a copy of Kathy's Real Story and asking them not to publish. A Sunday Times article of July 2009 indicated that the publisher had withdrawn their initial offer to publish her book because of an "unresolved legal issue".
Kelly was formerly a press officer for Nigel Farage, and the director of communications for Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD), of which Farage was co-president. The EFDD dissolved in mid-2019. In a 2023 Irish Times article, Farage described Kelly as a "big strong strapping Paddy".
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Hermann Kelly
Hermann Patrick Kelly (born 25 December 1968) is an Irish anti-immigration activist, politician, press officer and former journalist. He served as president of the far-right Irish Freedom Party (IFP) from its foundation in September 2018. As of October 2025, Kelly's leadership of the IFP was reportedly in dispute. Kelly has worked as an assistant to the Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș and Danish MEP Anders Vistisen.
Kelly was born on 25 December 1968 and is originally from the Bogside in Derry. His father was a headmaster of a primary school in Creggan, his mother was a nurse who emigrated from Australia and he has three siblings.
His secondary education was at St Columb's College, Derry. He then studied marine biology in Edinburgh before studying theology as a lay student at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. He briefly worked as a teacher in Dublin.
As a journalist, Kelly was a contributing columnist to the Irish Examiner, and also wrote for the Irish Mail on Sunday. Following the resignation of editor Simon Rowe in mid-2004, Kelly was briefly acting editor (and later deputy editor) of The Irish Catholic.
In 2007, Kelly wrote a book titled Kathy's Real Story which disputed the claims made in a book by Kathy O'Beirne (Don't Ever Tell), in which O'Beirne described childhood abuse she had reputedly suffered in a Magdalene asylum. Kelly claimed that initial doubts that he had while reading her book were confirmed by inconsistencies in different accounts which O'Beirne had given, and later confirmed by various witnesses and documentary evidence. He also claimed that false allegations were being made by those appearing before the Residential Institutions Redress Board in order to receive compensation.
A review by Gene Kerrigan (who worked alongside Michael Sheridan, O'Beirne's co-author) criticised Kelly's own criticism of O'Beirne's book. Kelly and O'Beirne both appeared on Ireland AM to discuss their books in November 2007, and the encounter ended in an argument.
Kelly also wrote to the proposed publishers of a sequel by O'Beirne, sending them a copy of Kathy's Real Story and asking them not to publish. A Sunday Times article of July 2009 indicated that the publisher had withdrawn their initial offer to publish her book because of an "unresolved legal issue".
Kelly was formerly a press officer for Nigel Farage, and the director of communications for Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD), of which Farage was co-president. The EFDD dissolved in mid-2019. In a 2023 Irish Times article, Farage described Kelly as a "big strong strapping Paddy".