Danny: ‘I’ll pay for a one-way ticket to North Korea for Ross!’

DANNY Healy-Rae said he has no bother paying for a one-way ticket to North Korea for Minister Shane Ross should he need it. The Kilgarvan Deputy made the claim after ministers Shane Ross, Finian McGrath and John Halligan proposed travelling to North Korea to try to broker a peace deal between the rogue state and the United States.

“We’ve enough things to sort out here in the runup to Christmas and not to be worrying about train and bus strikes. Minister Ross needs to play his part and now is not the time for him and his colleagues to be going on the run in North Korea,” Danny said.

In July Minister Ross wrote a stinging letter to The Kerryman calling out Danny Healy-Rae on his views about the new drink driving laws. But Danny maintains the minister now needs to get his own priorities in order.

“This trip makes no sense at all and the amount of people that have said to me this is the most idiotic thing any group of people ever contemplated doing is just unreal. This is pure nonsense, I mean what are they going to achieve? That man out there (Kim Jong-un) won’t even listen to the US President who has something like $75 billion at his disposal to defend against North Korea. If he’s not afraid of that, the carry on from three ministers is hardly going to catch his attention, is it?” added Danny.

Since the proposal to travel to the troubled peninsula was first revealed eyebrows have been raised from Pyongyang to Portarlington with opinion divided on the merits of such a trip. But Danny insists the three ministers need to ‘keep their eye on the ball at home’ and work on their respective ministries.

“They need to appreciate the people who elected them and concentrate on home. My message is stay at home, but if Minister Ross is stuck for the price of a ticket, I’ll pay for a one-way ticket for him,” Danny said.