Healy-Rae praised for TV interview

KERRY TD Michael Healy-Rae has been widely praised following his appearance on last week’s ‘The Tommy Tiernan Show’ and his heart-breaking account of a constituent, who took his own life after running into severe financial strain after opening a bogus non-residential account, struck a chord with the Irish public.

In an interview recorded before Christmas, Deputy HealyRae told audiences of one of his biggest mistakes: not picking up on an underlying message from a man he helped in the early noughties.

“I often told that story, but I had no intention of telling it before going up,” the Kilgarvan TD told The Kerryman. “But the way the question was put, I understood he [Tiernan] was asking me about my regrets.

“As happened, a lot of people, who had no idea what they were doing was illegal, this man was advised by a financial institution to open one of these bogus non-residential accounts. He turned to me when Revenue picked up on it, and I managed to secure a reduction on the amount he owed from €110,000 to around €72,000”

On the night, Healy-Rae told a visibly shocked Tiernan: “He was an elderly man, worked hard all his life and he came on the phone and said, ‘Michael you’ve helped me every way in the world but can we do any more about this money?’ I said, ‘Oh God, no’, and this is where I blame myself and no one else, I said to him ... we were at the end of the line, I said, ‘No, it’ll have to be paid’.

“Right away, he said, ‘No, no, no I won’t pay it. No, I won’t.’ ... it didn’t register. I didn’t get it. And he thanked me and he went off the phone”.

While driving two days later, Deputy Healy-Rae heard the man’s name on the radio death notices; he had taken his own life. In the aftermath of his interview on the show, in which Tiernan has no idea beforehand of who his guests will be, even the TD’s detractors took to social media to praise him on his appearance, with observers describing the interview as “sensitive”, “eloquent”, and “nourishment for the soul”.

“It’s very unusual to get praise on social media, especially for me!” the Deputy joked this week. “But I got a very positive reaction personally as well. I don’t know how many stories there are like the one I told about that man, who was small farmer who worked hard all his life.

“Not one of the managers in financial institutions were ever brought to justice for advising these people to do these things. They should have been held to account. In the last few days, people came to me saying they had forgotten about what they went through. The reaction has been massive.

“The producers got on to me since to say it’s been the best reaction they’ve had so far. It’s an unusual format, but I can testify that Tiernan does not know his guests beforehand.

Kerry TD Michael Healy Rae was praised.