On a slate grey day in April, in the corridors of Agriculture House on Kildare Street in Dublin, some staff were in tears. <\/p>\n
The Department of Agriculture<\/a> was reeling from the shock news that Independent junior minister Michael Healy-Rae<\/a> had just resigned from his role in Government over its handling of the fuel protests<\/a>. <\/p>\n Healy-Rae had announced the dramatic news on the floor of the D\u00e1il, before any of his colleagues in the department \u2013 including Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon \u2013 had a chance to talk him down. <\/p>\n Healy-Rae loved being a minister, and was quite flagrant about his belief that he was serving first and foremost in the Department of Kerry. <\/p>\n Although Government colleagues had known that the dynastic politician had been heavily lobbied by constituents who were furious over what they saw as a tone-deaf Government, there hadn\u2019t been a full appreciation in the Department of Agriculture of the pressure Healy-Rae was under to convince his brother Danny<\/a> to vote confidence in the Government or lose his job. <\/p>\n It is understood that, in the days leading up to the motion of confidence, the Department of the Taoiseach had made it clear to Michael that the deal that allowed him to be a minister of state was dependent on the Government being able to rely on the votes of the two brothers.<\/p>\n A source close to Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> confirmed on Wednesday that this had been the deal, \u201cand they all accept that\u201d. <\/p>\n But The Irish Times also understands there was a very different view in the Department of Agriculture. There was an understanding that being sacked would have been the \u201cworst of all worlds\u201d for Michael, who would have seen being fired as an existential threat to his reputation. <\/p>\n Among his former colleagues in the department there is a view that the Government would not have followed through and fired him. One person said that, had there been time, Michael would have been assured there was \u201cno way\u201d he would lose his job over Danny\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n Some of those who worked closely with Micheal said they felt the whole affair was a real political shame. Michael need not and should not have resigned, they said. <\/p>\n The different views between the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Agriculture on whether Michael should have lost his job are probably moot. <\/p>\n