Kathleen Napoli McKenna (9 September 1897 – 22 March 1988) was an Irish nationalist activist and journalist closely associated with Arthur Griffith.

McKenna attended the Oldcastle Endowed School and went on to pass the National University of Ireland matriculation exam.

Denounced by the local parish priest, Fr Robert Barry, her father's business went into decline.

Members of the family returned to Ireland from 1919 to 1922, and by the time of her father's death, he was living back in Oldcastle.

[1] McKenna would holiday in Ireland, and during a visit to Dublin in the summer of 1919, she presented herself to the Sinn Féin offices in Harcourt Street.

For her holidays, she worked in the Sinn Féin press bureau and was employed as one of the first "dáil girls" of the clandestine government.

In October 1919, she received the summons, and after a typing test on 11 November, she joined the Irish Bulletin under minister for propaganda, Desmond FitzGerald, and director of publicity, Robert Brennan.

McKenna would edit and mimeograph a summary of "acts of aggression" from British forces in Ireland weekly, compiled by Anna Kelly.

Her brother, Tadhg (Timothy) (1899–1931), was a member of Sinn Féin and in Greenore, County Louth was involved in trade union affairs.

Her brother William was a messenger for the Irish government during this period, and during the Civil War served in the Free State Army.

[1] After the truce in 1921, McKenna was assigned to the dáil cabinet secretarial staff at the Mansion House, where she continued to work in the publicity department.

She travelled as Griffith's private secretary to London as part of the Irish delegation to the treaty negotiations in October 1921.

[1][2][3] When the Irish Free State government was established, McKenna became a private secretary to a number of ministers for external affairs, including FitzGerald, Kevin O'Higgins and W. T. Cosgrave.

From September 1939 to June 1940, the family lived in Albania, but after Italy entered World War II, McKenna and the children moved to Viterbo.

Viterbo had been heavily bombed, and after Allied troops arrived, McKenna worked as a translator and gave English lessons to support her family.

[1] McKenna applied for an Irish military pension in 1950–51 and 1970, receiving references in support of her claim from Gallagher.