Leopold H. Kerney was the first Irish Minister Plenipotentiary to be appointed to Spain and remained at this post from 1935 until his retirement in 1946. He could be termed a "diplomat by accident" as he began his career in the Irish diplomatic service at the age of 38 when, being primarily interested in promoting direct trade between Ireland and France where he was living at the time, he visited Arthur Griffith in 1919 who appointed him trade representative, then Consul in Paris. The most publicised events of his career during his period in Spain concern his contacts with German agents between 1940 and 1942.
From 1901 to 1911 he travelled through Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy.
In 1912 he settled in Paris where he became the chief accountant at Lucile, a fashion house.
From 1914 to 1918 he was manager of Lucile.
From 1919 to 1922 he was Irish commercial representative in Paris.
From 1923 to 1925 he was Irish Republican Envoy in Paris.
From 1932 to 1935 he was Commercial Secretary in Paris.
From 1935 to 1946 he was Minister in Madrid 1937 Salamanca and Saint-Jean de Luz.
Actually he was representative to the republican government.
in May 1936 he was diagnosed with Poliomyelitis, following a period of treatment in Madrid, was recuperating at Isla de La Toja when the Spanish Civil War broke out.
In 1937 he undertook a mission to Salamanca to promote the recognition of the Fascist Regime.
He returned to Madrid to offer consular service to the POWs of the Eoin O'Duffy's brigade.
In October 1938 he visited Frank Ryan (Irish republican) in Burgos Prison.
From 1940 to 1942 he met with Edmund Veesenmayer.
In 1941 he visited with Frank Aiken and Seán Nunan, António de Oliveira Salazar in Lisbon, where from mid 1942 to 1945 Colman John O'Donovan(1893-1975) was the first Chargé d'affaires.
In 1943 he was recalled to Dublin for a debriefing, his reporting lacked both amplitude and candour.
He returned to Madrid and after the April 30, 1944, he condolenced Sigismund von Bibra, the German chargé d'affaires in Madrid.
In 1947 he led an Irish commercial mission to buy wheat in Buenos Aires.
