Michael Healy-Rae resigns and will vote no confidence
Michael Healy-Rae announces he will vote no confidence in the leader of the country and tender his resignation as a Minister of State, citing the plight of rural communities. The address responds to protests and direct appeals from farmers, contractors and workers in Kerry.
Resignation and no confidence
Michael Healy-Rae says he can no longer remain in a government that, he believes, has left people of rural Ireland behind. He declares his intention to vote no confidence in the leader of the country and to resign his Minister of State post with immediate effect.
Reasons from the ground
Healy-Rae cites meetings with protesters, farmers and lorry drivers, and recounts seeing people begging and grown men in tears. He points to agricultural contractors and workers who are suffering and says those encounters convinced him that the government has not listened.
Personal ties and reflections
The TD references canvassers, family and office staff who supported him, and recalls his time at the Department of Agriculture. He says he adored being a minister because he felt he could help, and that his decision is rooted in a duty to the people of Kerry.
A plea to future governments
Healy-Rae urges current and future administrations to listen, to be kind and understanding to rural communities. He frames his resignation as a lesson and a call for politicians to pay attention to farmers and workers who feel abandoned.
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Thank you very much Keann Comhairle. I've listened to the protesters, I've listened to the workers, I've listened to the people of Kerry, the canvassers who soldiered on long days and bad nights with me over the years, to my family, to my friends, to the office staff in Kerry, Fiona and Kevin, to the Department of Agriculture people, Jackie Casey and all the people I adore, to my son Jackie who's been by my side all the time, I've always looked at myself as a gauge of the people of rural Ireland and I really believe that I am. People, when I see people begging on the side of the road, when I've seen grown men crying, last night inside the plough bar when I met tractor men, lorry men, farmers and when they were telling me how unhappy they were, the leader of the country should have listened and because of the fact that I believe this government have left the people of Ireland down, I will be voting no confidence in the leader of the country and I will be tendering my resignation as a Minister of State from now and I would ask that future governments and this government that they would listen, that they would be kind, that they would be understanding. There are farmers that are really suffering so much at present, there are agricultural contractors that are really suffering, there are people that cried at the protests and these were workers, these were respectable people, they are the people that I represented since the first day I started. Any day I get up, I don't mean to hurt or offend or to harm anybody. When I canvassed in the election of 16, people said to me in Kerry, if we get an opportunity to go into government will you? I said I would, if the opportunity was right and if it was good for the people of Kerry but now the people of Kerry are telling me that they're unhappy with this government, they don't want to see me or any Healy Ray supporting it and that is why and I remember my late father today and he supported governments when they when things were bad and things were tough and I asked him last night before I went to bed I said what should I do and the feeling that I have is the government and the leader in particularly has not listened. It's a lesson for people, sorry just one second, it's a lesson for people in the future. I adored being a minister in the Department of Agriculture because I felt I was able to do good and I was passionate about my job. I'm sorry and I thank you all very very much.
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