Michael Healy-Rae has said he was “pulled overboard” by his brother and fellow Independent TD Danny when he resigned as a minister of state in April.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he announced he was standing down from his role at the Department of Agriculture and in Government, Michael heavily criticised his brother.
Danny’s comments on the Government and his decision to vote against the Coalition in the motion of no confidence that followed April’s fuel protests had effectively sacked him, Michael told Radio Kerry.
Michael said Danny’s call for Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris to be replaced as the leaders of their parties meant he could not continue in his role.
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His remarks contradict the version of events given by him in the aftermath of his departure, when he insisted to reporters he was “absolutely not” bounced into the decision by his brother.
At that time, Michael said he was resigning because the Government had “let the people down”. However, he said on Tuesday he felt pushed to act by his brother’s decision to criticise the Government and its leaders.
He said he believed the Government was doing a good job and the brothers’ arrangement was “a team effort to support the Government for the good of Co Kerry”.
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Danny had signed up to support the Government, Michael said, and it was not his place to publicly criticise the Coalition. Referring to his late father Jackie, Michael said he was honour-bound to keep his word.
“In calling for the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to go, it did not make sense,” he said.
Michael Healy-Rae said it was always the situation they both gave their word. He said he did not jump overboard, but rather was “pulled overboard”.
It was not Danny’s role to talk about a change in leadership in other parties, he said, which was a matter for the respective parliamentary parties.
“When you are talking politically, you always have to think about what you’re saying,” Michael said of his brother.
“When those words were issued, that is what cost Kerry a ministry for agriculture, that is a fact.”
Asked if he was sacked, Michael Healy-Rae referred to his brother’s interview on Radio Kerry.
“First of all, I was sacked on Radio Kerry,” he said.
He said he had been doing a good job, and losing the position had knocked him for six.
He said the brothers had a direct influence on Government policy, from the Killarney bypass to the population cap for the application of short-term letting rules increasing to 20,000.
He said there will have to be “a lot of soul searching for Team Healy-Rae”.
“Team Healy-Rae has been damaged by this,” he said.
Although they did not lose a seat, they had lost influence politically, Michael added.
He would not comment directly on the relationship between the brothers and their children, who are members of Kerry County Council, but said: “We don’t do blazing rows.”
Asked if he was speaking to his brother or if he was co-operating politically, Michael did not answer the question directly.
He would have to make sure he could rely on that person and “they’ll have to have backbone”, he said, repeating there would have to be a lot of soul-searching.
“Reliability is everything and being able to trust people is very, very important,” he said.
“They know I was put in an impossible situation,” he said.
He said he was put in an “impossible situation”, as it was not tenable to have two brothers, one of whom was no longer supporting the Government. He said he believed it was “an over-reaction” by Danny.
Michael said he would have liked to have known about his brother’s radio interview in advance. Asked by presenter Jerry O’Sullivan if Danny knew he was going on Radio Kerry on Tuesday, Michael said he would answer that by saying he did not know of Danny’s interview in April in advance.
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