Michael Healy-Rae

Michael J. Healy-Rae (born 9 January 1967) is an Irish independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry constituency since 2016, and from 2011 to 2016 for the Kerry South constituency. He served as a Minister of State from January 2025 until his resignation in April 2026. He served as chair of the Committee on European Union Affairs from 2016 to 2020.

Before entering national politics, he was involved in local politics in County Kerry and pursued business interests.

Family life He is the youngest son of Jackie Healy-Rae, who was a TD for Kerry South from 1997 to 2011; and the brother of Danny Healy-Rae, who is also a TD. His mother, Julie Healy, was born in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., but grew up in New York City. He has 5 children, two of whom were found guilty and convicted of assault charges in 2019. His son, Jackie Healy-Rae Jnr, was elected as a councillor for Castleisland local electoral area at the 2019 Kerry County Council election.

Local politics Healy-Rae was first elected at the 1999 Kerry County Council for the local electoral area of Killorglin. He retained his seat with an increased vote at the 2004 Kerry County Council election. He served on the council until his election to the Dáil in 2011.

Reality television In autumn 2007, Michael Healy-Rae took part in a reality television show on RTÉ called Celebrities Go Wild, set in the "unforgiving landscapes" of Connemara, County Galway. He emerged as the winner, having received the largest number of votes from the "viewing public". In June 2011, news broke of a voting scandal, for which journalist Senan Molony received the award for "Scoop of the Year" at the National Newspapers of Ireland's Journalism Awards. It was revealed that Healy-Rae had received 3,636 votes from a phone in Leinster House, at a cost of €2,600 to the Irish taxpayer, the premium-rate calls being charged a tariff designed to raise money for charity. Only limited information was available as to how the calls were made. Speculation that an automated dialler had been employed was discounted by the Irish Independent, which suggested they were made over 31 hours using "redial". The Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, described it as "an outrageous abuse of facilities", while the Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the money spent on the calls should be paid back. On 29 June 2011, Healy-Rae said that while he was not involved in the calls, he would pay the money back.

National politics

Healy-Rae was elected for Kerry South at the 2011 general election, when his father Jackie retired. He, like fellow Independents Michael Lowry and Noel Grealish, were not members of the Technical group in the 31st Dáil. He missed two-thirds of votes in his first Dáil term, despite being signed in for his expenses on each day a vote was taken.

Healy-Rae had been appointed to the board of the Citizens' Information Board in April 2009. He was asked twice to resign his position from the board because of a conflict of interest between his subsequent membership of the Dáil and his membership of a body advising the Minister for Social Protection. After he refused to resign, the Minister dismissed him in July 2011.

On 9 December 2011, having earlier participated in a debate on social welfare, he took ill at Leinster House and was advised to leave the Dáil chamber. Health minister James Reilly, a medical doctor, tended to him outside the chamber, he was brought from Leinster House on a stretcher, placed in an ambulance and rushed to St. James's Hospital.

Healy-Rae has raised The Hum in Dáil Éireann after witnessing it himself while meeting some of his constituents who were "nearly gone out of their minds" with it. The official response he received, was described by Healy-Rae as "away with the fairies gobbledygook."

He topped the poll in Kerry at the 2016 general election; his brother Danny was elected alongside him. This was the first time that two siblings were elected to the Dáil for the same constituency. A short while later, on the evening of 20 March 2016, Michael Healy-Rae experienced being unintentionally "tossed around by a cow" who was after calving in a shed at his farm near Kilgarvan. He was taken to hospital with his injuries.

At the 2020 general election, he topped the poll again, and was re-elected on the first count.

In May 2020, he called for the Leaving Certificate exams in 2020 to be cancelled due to COVID-19, in contrast to his brother Danny who said that the exams should go ahead in 2020 with proper social distancing, possibly using public buildings such as community centres and libraries.

On 9 April 2024, following the resignation of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach, Michael was nominated for the position by his brother, Danny Healy-Rae. He was the only candidate to oppose Simon Harris, who was elected by 88 votes to 69.

At the 2024 general election, Healy-Rae was re-elected to the Dáil, topping the poll in Kerry.

In January 2025, Healy-Rae was appointed Minister of State with special responsibility for forestry, at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Accepting the position, he stated that he would stick with the Government "through thick and thin". On 14 April 2026, in the aftermath of the fuel protests, he resigned as a minister of state, saying the government had lost touch with the people.

Political views His political platform includes opposition to tighter controls on drinking and driving. His father and brother have also expressed similar views on such legislation. In 2018 Healy-Rae stated that he did not believe Ireland had a major alcohol problem, countering claims from anti-alcohol campaigners highlighting the country's position as 20th in alcohol consumption within the OECD. Healy-Rae has defended Irish pub culture, seeing it as an important social space for conversation and community.

In January 2012, Healy-Rae proposed changing Ireland's number plate system so that the supposedly unlucky number 13 would be dropped for the year 2013 to save the Irish car industry.

On social issues, Healy-Rae was opposed to the smoking ban, arguing that elderly smokers were forced outside in harsh conditions. On cannabis, Healy-Rae expressed support for its medicinal use but remained opposed to its legalisation for recreational purposes. He has also criticised the Swedish model of criminalising the purchase of sex, asserting that the protection of individuals working in the sex trade was paramount, though he refrained from offering a definitive stance on the legislation itself.

In March 2020, it was reported that he had added three properties to his portfolio in the 2019 Register of Members' interests, bringing the number of properties to 21. The three new properties include a house in Clonkeen for which purchase was going through contract stage, a house in Tralee at the same stage and a property in Kilgarvan that is in the process of being renovated. The plan was for four apartments and had met with strong local opposition. A quarter of TDs are landlords or property investors.

Other business interests He has listed in the register of TDs interests that he is a postmaster, farmer, plant hire business operator and shop owner.

In May 2020, a complaint was lodged with the clerk of the Dáil over his failure to declare his interest in The Skellig Hotel Experience, a company that ran the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen. He had a 25% share in the company after investing €25,000 in January 2019, but there was no entry for his shareholding on the Oireachtas Register of Interests.

Publications