he would be resigning from his position<\/a> in support of the fuel protesters. He exited the D\u00e1il and raised a fist at awaiting supporters.\u00a0<\/p>\nBut behind the scenes, it became increasingly clear that Michael\u2019s departure from the government was spurred on by his brother\u2019s radio remarks.<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s documentary, both brothers were reluctant to discuss the matter, although they did elaborate on the current state of their relationship.<\/p>\n
On Danny\u2019s monumental radio interview, Michael said: \u201cTo say I was surprised, I was shocked, I was upset, of course I was, because number one I would have like to have known that he was going to go saying that.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber two, it meant that he was effectively breaking the deal, and that\u2019s why that interview, to me, it was so hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danny\u2019s comments were like \u201cthrowing a boulder into a lake and thinking that nothing was going to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
For some 30 hours following the live interview, Michael \u201ctried everything\u201d to put right what he felt was wrong, and \u201cit failed\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"20260602-DSC00734\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787229198_498_.jpeg\")
\n Michael Healy Rae pictured in Radio Kerry’s Killarney studio with host Jerry O’Sullivan in his first radio interview since his departure from his Ministerial post. Jerry Kennelly \/ Local Story Films<\/p>\n
Jerry Kennelly \/ Local Story Films \/ Local Story Films\n<\/p>\n
His resignation and vote of no confidence were a surprise to Danny, who said only the night before his brother told him he would be voting for the government and \u201cvoting for himself\u201d.<\/p>\n
Danny said he was getting \u201cdisillusioned and upset and fed up with them [the government] in general, because they weren\u2019t honouring their agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the time following his resignation, Michael was \u201cupset\u201d and \u201clow\u201d, his son Jackie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael felt Danny had acted rashly with his comments and had forced his hand. \u201cWe were on a ship. Did I jump overboard? I didn\u2019t jump over any board. I was pulled overboard,\u201d he told Radio Kerry.<\/p>\n
Danny\u2019s daughter, councillor Maura Healy-Rae, said she found Michael\u2019s comments \u201cvery disappointing\u201d and \u201cthe way the blame was laid at his [Danny’s] feet. I think he made a decision, and perhaps he regretted it, but I regret that he blamed my father for that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Healy-Rae, Danny\u2019s other child, said a man used to say \u201ca fight between the Healy-Raes was a kind of a friendship\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I hope this will be the same,\u201d Johnny said.<\/p>\n
As for the current state of their relationship, both brothers remained cagey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always got on fine until this,\u201d Michael said. \u201cSpud and meself. Sure, God, your older brother \u2013 it isn\u2019t as though you have a 100 of them or anything like that. But when it comes to being thoughtful about what you\u2019re doing\u2026 I\u2019d have concerns about things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut your family is your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether there is war in the camp, Danny replied, \u201cI see no bombs or no missiles, or anything like that, and we\u2019re fairly close to each other. But\u2026 nothing like that, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether they have a good personal relationship outside of politics, he said, \u201cI would say so, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael said he would be boxing up the matter and putting it to the back of his head. \u201cI am not going to be dissecting this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MICHAEL AND DANNY Healy-Rae have discussed their fallout in the aftermath of the April fuel protests, which saw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[273823,9,10,4767,49414,18,13,14,189695,6,19,17,7335,11,12,15,16,5283,5,1181,7,8],"class_list":["post-647216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-blood-sweat-and-tears","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dail-eireann","tag-danny-healy-rae","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fuel-protests","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-michael-healy-rae","tag-news","tag-rte","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117127860837510440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}