Joseph Tomelty (5 March 1911 – 7 June 1995)[1] was an Irish actor, playwright, novelist, short-story writer and theatre manager.

He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage,[2] starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.

[1] Tomelty was a co-founder, in 1940,of the Group Theatre in Belfast, and served as its general manager until 1951.

[2] Tomelty's family-based radio sitcom The McCooeys was first broadcast on the BBC Home Service in Northern Ireland on 14 May 1949, becoming the region's most listened-to programme over the next six years.

Centre Stage Theatre Company, co-founded by his daughter Roma and her husband Colin Carnegie, revived four of the episodes in a stage version, directed by Michael Quinn and performed in the refurbished Grand Opera House Studio Theatre in February 2022.