The Healy-Raes have been playing down reports of a rift between TD brothers Michael and Danny all week. But the body language at Kerry County Council’s meeting last Monday spoke volumes.
It was a “sight to behold”, in the words of one official who witnessed the outbreak of social distancing between the Healy-Rae camps.
The five Healy-Raes on the council – Danny’s children Johnny and Maura, Michael’s son Jackie, and Healy-Rae affiliates from Tralee and Listowel respectively, Sam Locke and Liam ‘Speedy’ Nolan – occupy most of the back row in the council chambers in Tralee.
Maura, from the Killarney area, sits on the edge next to her brother Johnny. Alongside him is their first cousin Jackie, Michael’s son. Normally not short of a few words, he was unusually quiet and he barely engaged with his colleagues.
Jackie himself suffered collateral damage in his father’s resignation as minister – it meant losing his job as special adviser to his father in Government. In recent days, Jackie has spoken to local media about how this was a “blow” to him personally and about how upset his father was by recent events.
Pressed by Radio Kerry’s flagship morning show Kerry Today on why his father resigned, having released a video supporting the Government the previous day, Jackie said the “stumbling block” was the Taoiseach and his attitude.
Micheál Martin this week rejected any suggestion he forced Michael Healy-Rae out of the job, saying “it was a matter for Michael Healy-Rae and Danny Healy-Rae”.
Back in the council chamber, Jackie did not spend long moving motions that he had tabled and, unusually, he did not speak on them. He likes to hold the floor and challenge officials but there was none of the usual fire.
And when his arch rival Cllr Tommy Cahill, son of Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill, criticised people seeking to do down the South Kerry greenway project – in a clear reference to Jackie – it was Jackie’s cousin Johnny who defended him.
“People are only giving out about the cost. The cost has to be explained to people,” Johnny said.
[ Healy-Rae brothers under strain as Kingdom detente is brokenOpens in new window ]
Tension between the two Healy-Rae camps had been simmering even before the fuel blockades triggered a more serious row and drove both TDs out of their general election pact with the Coalition.
Danny was said to have been less enthusiastic about the deal in the first place. He was also held responsible for Michael not getting a rural ministry while Enda Kenny was taoiseach.
Danny, although later into politics than Michael, would be regarded as closer to their father, each night taking the “call from the Dáil” from the late Jackie in the pub in Kilgarvan.
The Kerry’s Eye newspaper reported this week that the double resignation has caused a serious rift between the brothers, so much so that they might stand on different tickets in the next election – with Michael running against his brother in the south, and Michael’s son Jackie potentially competing in the north.
For now, however, any such division is being kept firmly under wraps.
On Thursday, Danny Healy-Rae told The Irish Times: “I know nothing about the split. We are the same as we were and will continue working for the people of Kerry.”
Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae said reports of a split were more suitable for the soap opera Fair City.
“If there’s a row like that going on in Kilgarvan, someone better tell me,” he said.
