O'Keeffe, Patrick (1923-2013)--DB9697

Biographical Notes

Date of birth and date of death

06.05.1923-13.01.2013

Maiden name, place of origin

Duntaheen, Fermoy, County Cork

Marital status, religious denomination, children

Married to 1) Anne O'Connor and 2) Jane O'Callaghan; Catholic (Later Non-Denominational); 4 Children (1 Son and 3 Daughters)

Social background, family connections

Son of a farmer

Education, occupation and public functions

Education

University College Dublin: Bachelor of Agricultural Science -1946; Athenry Agricultural College; Fermoy Christian Brothers' School

Occupation

Co-operative Molasses Traders Ltd (CMTL): Chief executive 1977-1984; Farmer of 81 hectares, ultimately, at Ballyhooley, County Cork, 1967-2000; Radio Eireann: Host of Farmer's Forum 1950s-1960s; Irish Farmers' Journal: Chairman of the Agricultural Trust (the trust that controls the Irish Farmers' Journal) 1993-2013, chief executive 1988-1993, editor 1952-1988 and joint editor 1951-1952; Dublin Board of Health: Agricultural adviser and agricultural superintendent of Grangegorman and Portrane hospital farms (covering 647 hectares) 1947-1951; Louth County Committee of Agriculture: Agricultural adviser 1946-1947

Functions in agricultural institutions

Irish Cattle Breeding Federation: Founding member 1998; Royal Dublin Society: Honorary life member 1988; Department of Agriculture: Chairman of the review group on Ireland's forests 1984-1985 and Bord na gCapall (the Irish state body responsible for the non-thoroughbred horse industry) 1983-1987; An Foras Talúntais (Irish Agricultural Institute): Chairman 1973-1979; Farmers' Business Developments (FBD): Chairman 1967-1987; Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Ireland: Founding member 1961; Irish Grassland Association: Member 1946-2013, secretary, and president 1967-1968; Macra na Feirme: Member of the executive

Functions in other institutions

Radio Telefís Eireann (RTE) Authority: Member of the board 1973-1979

Political activities

Close association with the Progressive Democrats political party from 1985; Close association with the Fine Gael-Labour government during the tenure of Clinton, Mark (1915-2001)--DB5190 as minister for agriculture and Justin Keating as minister for industry and commerce 1973-1977; Close association with Fianna Fáil governments during the tenure of Haughey, Charles--DB5067 as minister for agriculture 1964-1966 and taoiseach (prime minister) 1987-1992

Short Biography

Patrick (known universally as Paddy) O'Keeffe was a farmer, agricultural journalist and agri-businessperson who had a huge influence on the course of Irish agriculture in the second part of the twentieth century. In turning around the fortunes of the Grangegorman and Portrane hospital farms, covering 647 hectares, in the late 1940s he first came to prominence, attracting the attention of the new Irish young farmers' organisation, Macra na Feirme. Its main objective was to secure the future of young farmers by finding the most dynamic ways to develop their farms. Through Macra na Feirme, O'Keeffe met Mooney, John-Joseph (1920-2000)--DB5710, who in 1951 bought its newsletter, the Irish Farmers' Journal, with the intention of making it a cutting-edge vocational resource for Irish farmers as well as a platform for a progressive agricultural agenda. Mooney made O'Keeffe joint editor and then, very quickly, editor. Operating under tremendous financial and logistical pressure, O'Keeffe had established the Irish Farmers' Journal as Ireland's leading farming periodical by 1960.

O'Keeffe's editorial line promoted efficiency and technical know-how in farming as opposed to self-sufficiency and romantic conceptions (which had been the leitmotiv of official policy since Irish independence). Consistent with this, he formed a close association with the Irish agricultural research institute, An Foras Talúntais (AFT), rather than the Irish Department of Agriculture. Upon the creation of the National Farmers' Association (NFA) in 1955, which O'Keeffe had encouraged, the Irish Farmers' Journal ceased to be aligned with Macra na Feirme. However, explicitly, it became independent. In 1967 the NFA founded an investment co-operative society, Farmers' Business Developments (FBD), of which O'Keeffe became chairman, directing its institution of an insurance company for poorly covered farmers.

In 1968 O'Keeffe moved the Irish Farmers' Journal to Bluebell, County Dublin, and the NFA and other farm organisations also relocated their offices to the site, too, which evolved into the Irish Farm Centre in 1972. Coinciding with Ireland's entry into the European Economic Community in 1973, the circulation of the Irish Farmers' Journal reached 80,000 copies, confirming it as the Irish publishing success story that it remains today. In addition, the Irish Farm Centre became the centre for farmer advocacy in the context of the new regime created by the Common Agricultural Policy. From his prominent position, O'Keeffe was appointed to the governing authorities of both RTE, the Irish state broadcaster, and AFT in the 1970s. In AFT, he emphasised the importance of grassland and dairying enterprise, and in 2015 AFT's successor, Teagasc, named its new innovation centre for the advancement of grassland and dairying (at Moorepark, County Cork) after him. In his private life, O'Keeffe practiced what he preached publicly, trebling the milk output on his dairy farm at Ballyhooley, County Cork, over three decades and then, during his retirement, leasing it to Teagasc for research purposes.

Author: Mícheál O Fathartaigh

References

Own publications

Sources

Keywords

IrlandeCounty CorkCounty DublinCounty Louth