{"id":480292,"date":"2026-06-03T03:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480292\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T03:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:40:20","slug":"team-healy-rae-still-together-says-danny-after-michael-blames-him-for-government-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480292\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Team Healy-Rae\u2019 still together, says Danny after Michael blames him for Government exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danny Healy-Rae has insisted that “Team Healy-Rae”<\/a> remains intact despite his brother Michael publicly accusing him of “pulling him overboard”<\/a> and out of Government.<\/p>\n

Responding to Michael Healy-Rae’s extraordinary criticism during a Radio Kerry interview on Tuesday, Danny told the Irish Examiner he was “saying nothing at all in the world” about his brother’s remarks.<\/p>\n

However, when asked whether “Team Healy-Rae” was still together, he replied: “Myself, and Johnny, and Maura are full belt at it.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure Michael and Jackie are as well.”<\/p>\n

The comments came after Michael Healy-Rae publicly blamed his brother for the collapse of a political arrangement with the Government, claiming Danny’s refusal to back the coalition ahead of a no-confidence vote had effectively left him without a ministerial role.<\/p>\n

Refusing to say whether the brothers would campaign together again, Michael said he had been unable to \u201cput things right\u201d after Danny \u201clit a fire\u201d by refusing to publicly back the Government hours before a no-confidence vote.<\/p>\n

While rumours of a split within the Healy-Rae political dynasty have swirled in recent weeks, the first public signs of division emerged on Tuesday as Michael launched a blistering attack on his brother, suggesting Danny had failed to show \u201cpolitical backbone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Michael resigned from his junior ministry<\/a> at the Department of Agriculture in April during a motion of no confidence<\/a> in the Government.<\/p>\n

The day before the vote, Danny Healy-Rae called on Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael backbenchers to remove their leaders, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a>, while refusing to state whether he would support the Government during a Radio Kerry interview.<\/p>\n

As reported by the Irish Examiner in April, the Taoiseach declined to give assurances that Michael Healy-Rae\u2019s ministerial role would be protected if Danny voted against the coalition.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was pulled overboard\u2019<\/p>\n

\"DannyDanny Healy-Rae says ‘Team Healy-Rae’ remains intact after Michael publicly blamed him for his Government exit. Picture: Dan Linehan<\/p>\n

During an explosive interview on Radio Kerry on Tuesday, Michael confirmed there had been a \u201ctwo-for-one\u201d deal between the Healy-Raes<\/a> and the Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on a ship. Did I jump overboard?\u201d Michael said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t jump over any board; I was pulled overboard. It was always the situation that the Healy-Raes agreed the two of us gave our word to two other men, and that was the Taoiseach and the T\u00e1naiste. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen one of the people that gave their word [Danny] was saying, \u2018Oh, them two people should be gone.\u201d The leadership for any party is a matter for the parliamentary party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Healy-Rae said that \u201cwords mean an awful lot\u201d in politics.<\/p>\n

He said his late father, Jackie Healy-Rae, \u201calways kept his word\u201d and that he felt \u201chonour-bound\u201d to do the same.<\/p>\n

However, Michael insisted he was \u201cabsolutely not\u201d being blamed by anyone in Government for what had happened.<\/p>\n

He described the past few weeks as the \u201ctoughest political chapter in my book\u201d but insisted it \u201cwasn\u2019t just about the ministry\u201d and that supporting the Government had delivered a \u201cdeal for Kerry\u201d.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cYou could say I was sacked on Radio Kerry because that started it. All I wanted to do at all times was think about County Kerry. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking about all the years that the Healy-Raes had given to get into some position where we could do something. We were finally in that position. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll that needed to be done was to have political backbone and to stay on the course and fight from within Government to do the best to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Team Healy-Rae\u2019 faces soul-searching<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Healy Rae salutes protesters after resigning from government last Tuesday. Picture: Stephen Collins\/Collins Photos<\/p>\n

While Michael has said that \u201cTeam Healy-Rae\u201d<\/a> must undertake some \u201csoul searching\u201d, he did not directly answer whether he intended to sever political ties with Danny.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Healy-Rae that will go on a ballot paper, I wish them every bit of good luck,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will just have to be careful and prudent that when you do a deal with somebody, and when you do an agreement, you have to be able to rely on that person.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to have backbone, they have to have the political determination, and of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been suggestions in recent weeks that relations between Danny\u2019s children, Maura Healy-Rae and Johnny Healy-Rae, and Michael\u2019s son, Jackie Healy-Rae Jr, have also cooled. All three serve as councillors on Kerry County Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Healy-Rae has insisted that “Team Healy-Rae” remains intact despite his brother Michael publicly accusing him of “pulling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[187201,24622,63615,61,60,1843,43,70],"class_list":["post-480292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-kerry-news","tag-the-healy-raes","tag-fuel-prices","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-simon-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}