The only son of James Connolly (1D178), Roddy was 15 years old when he carried out scouting and dispatch work for his father from Easter Monday to Wednesday. He was arrested and held in Richmond Barracks but released on account of his young age after eight days.
Joining the Socialist Party of Ireland in 1917, he spent time in Glasgow in 1918 where he was attached to the Irish Volunteers. He attended the Communist International’s world congresses in Moscow in 1920 and 1921.
He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Ireland with two other 1916 veterans, Sean McLoughlin (MSP34REF61056) and Paddy Stephenson (MSP34REF21743). At the outbreak of the Civil War, he led a small CPI-ICA contingent in O’Connell Street during the week of fighting in Dublin.
Connolly organised the Workers’ Party of Ireland in 1926 but joined the Labour Party in 1928. He was part of attempts to organise a new ICA in 1934 and spoke at the Republican Congress launch meeting in the same year.
Connolly was elected twice as a Labour TD for Louth (1943–44, 1948–51), unsuccessfully ran in several Dáil elections in Louth and Dublin (early 1950s), was a member of the Senate on the Labour Panel (1973–77) and was Labour Party chairman from 1971 to 1978. He died in Dublin in 1980 aged 79.
[Sources: Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB) entry and Jimmy Wren, The GPO Garrison Easter Week 1916: A Biographical Dictionary (2015)].
