IRISH KENNEDY HERITAGE GROUP INAUGURATION

A meeting of Kennedys and Kennedy descendants was held at Rearcross, County Tipperary, Ireland at 5pm on Sunday 5th July 2015, prior to the 5th annual Kennedy Gathering.

Present were Chief Rody Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Barrister at Law, Limerick, Lawrence Kennedy, London, John and Joan Kennedy, Pollanorman, Joseph Kennedy, Kilkenny, Tom Kennedy, Borrisokane, Pat and Phyllis Kennedy, Garnafana, Toomevara, Mattie Ryan Larry, Windygap, Matt Ryan Luke, Nenagh, Brian Kennedy, Australia.

This was probably the first formal gathering of descendants of the former O’Kennedy chiefs and O’Kennedy farmers for several hundred years. The meeting included direct descendants of the old O’Kennedy chiefs together with lawyers, farmers, historians and teachers among others.

Brian Kennedy addressed the meeting about the results of extensive research that shows that the Kennedys have been in Upper Ormond for over 1,000 years. They survived the Normans, the Cromwellian dispossessions (having lost over 14,000 statute acres of land in Upper Ormond), and the penal times and are still in the Ormond baronies of North Tipperary in large numbers. He proposed to the meeting that the history of the Kennedys in their Ormond homelands be commemorated and memorialised in several ways through setting up a Kennedy Heritage Group. The meeting unanimously endorsed the proposal.