Alan Kelly, who was chosen as deputy leader of the Labour Party in 2014, is from Portroe just outside Nenagh, Co Tipperary. He went to secondary school at Nenagh CBS and attended University College Cork to get a BA in English and history. He was very involved in youth politics while at university and became the chair of Labour Youth in 2000. He is married to Regina O'Connor, a teacher, and they have two children.

Kelly was a former eBusiness manager with Bord Fáilte and Fáilte Ireland, a senator from 2007-2009 and a MEP for Munster for two years. He went forward as a Labour candidate in 2011 in the Tipperary North constituency and was won the final seat. He is known within the Labour Party as AK-47.