Editing Seán T. O'Kelly (section)

==Close friend of de Valera==
O'Kelly was a close associate of [[Éamon de Valera]], who served variously as [[President of Dáil Éireann]] (Prime Minister from April 1919 to August 1921) and [[President of the Irish Republic|President of the Republic]] (from August 1921 to January 1922). As with de Valera, he opposed the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], signed by representatives of the British and Irish governments in December 1921.

When de Valera resigned as President of the Republic on 6 January 1922, O'Kelly returned from Paris to Dublin, to try to negotiate a compromise, whereby de Valera could return to the presidency. A furious de Valera turned down the offer and ordered O'Kelly to return to Paris.

During the Irish Civil War, O'Kelly was in jail until December 1923. Afterwards, he spent the next two years as a Sinn Féin envoy to the [[United States]].