In the annals of Maynooth, the tenure, however brief, of the great and the good as students for the priesthood is often paraded as an indication of spiritual insight, pastoral intent – or even mental confusion or personal failure. Thus the Derry politician John Hume (student 1955-9), and his Tyrone-born neighbour Brian Friel (student 1945-8) are often noted for their Maynooth connection, though neither seem to have had an entirely happy time there.

A more typical example is Michael O'Kennedy, who over a period of thirty years was prominent in Irish politics, becoming a minister at the age of 37 and securing cabinet appointments in over a dozen ministries. 

The second of six children, Michael O'Kennedy was born in 1936 and grew up in the family grocery shop on Emmet Place, Nenagh and boarded at St Flannan's College, Ennis.He entered Maynooth for service in the Diocese of Killaloe in 1953 but left after 18 months to go to UCD to read Classics, graduating with a BA and going on to do an MA. He was called to the Bar in 1961.

He contested but failed to win a second Fianna Fail seat in Tipperary North in 1965 but was elected to the Seanad for four years on the Cultural Panel and in 1969 he secured the Dail seat. He held it until he resigned to become EEC Commissioner with responsibility for Administration, Personnel and Statistics in 1981. He resigned as commissioner in the following year and was re-elected to the Dail in 1982, holding it except for a five-year period between 1992 and 1997 when he was once again elected to the Seanad on the Administrative Panel. His cabinet appointments were as Minister for Labour from 1991 to 1992, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1987 to 1991, Minister for Finance and Minister for the Public Service from 1979 to 1980, Minister for Economic Planning and Development from 1979 to 1980, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1977 to 1979, and Minister for Transport and Power from January 1973 to March 1973. He also served as Minister without portfolio from 1972 to 1973, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education from 1970 to 1973. He also went forward for selection as Fianna Fail candidate for election as President of Ireland in 1992, but was defeated on a vote of 21 votes to 112 for Mary McAleese, the eventual winner of the national contest. He retired from active politics in 2002 at the age of sixty-six.

He died in April 2022 at the age of eighty-six. His obituary in the Irish Independent can be accessed here.