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A GERMAN TELEVISION crew are currently spending four days in south Kerry interviewing locals and councillor Danny Healy-Rae about rural isolation.
Danny, the son of former TD Jackie and brother of current Independent TD Michael, is no stranger to the German media spotlight.
He told TheJournal.ie that this is the fourth German media crew to visit him in his Kerry constituency.
“There was a magazine crowd from Hamburg, another TV crew came from Cologne, this German crew, they are also from Hamburg, and then there was German Playboy…”
Danny explains that he was interviewed for the March edition of the lads magazine.
“It was the one with Rosanna Davison in it. The one where she didn’t have much on… I was further on in the magazine from her. I have three of the issues in the boot of the car actually.”
The German television station Spiegel are “meeting with people living in small villages and small towns [in Kerry], where shops are closing and pubs are closing,” Michael Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie. “It highlights a problem that’s also in Germany too.”
Michael believes that the show will be watched by around two million people in Germany and should be broadcast “either this Sunday or next Sunday. It’ll be in German but there will be subtitles”.
The crew filmed a Kerry Council Constituency meeting yesterday evening and were in the Healy-Rae’s bar on Sunday.
Danny said they never condoned drink driving. He wanted permits for people living in certain areas so they could “enjoy one or two in the pub. It would be a form of discretion by gardaí”.
“A person going out playing a game of cards, having a drink or two and driving home never hurt anyone,” added Michael.
Michael believes that people in Ireland did not understand what they meant because the media “ridiculed” them.
“It’s only smart alecks that think we are wrong,” said Michael.
Danny said he was not worried about how he was representing Ireland internationally and stood by his idea that locals in rural Kerry should be allowed drink alcohol and drive.
“When people [Germans] see the type of roads and the type of people they understand it exactly,” he said.
He called on the the government and “the powers that be to give this consideration”.
“People in rural Ireland are not getting fair play,” Danny said.
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I think I speak for most when I say..
‘Oh Jesus..’
Absolutely…that officially seals it. We’re the butt of Europe’s joke!
Well I am glad it wasn’t the other way around.Rosanna at the back, him at the front of the mag.
Good man the Dan!!!!
Surely ruuural isolation and mucky publications go hand in hand anyway….beats off the ould incest at least!!
To be honest, I’ve needed subtitles when I’ve heard this family speak too, muppets.
How does this family get so media/air time. In most countries these fellas would be locked away hidden from the outside world. And now the Germans are running a show on them, they are advertising it as a Fr Ted spin off
Maybe the Germans are making there own version of father ted and want the Rae healys to star in it.
The Healy Raes are Advertising Gold. Guaranteed this article will get over 100 comments. People love slagging them off in the same way people watch tv programmes so that they can complain about it to Joe Duffy or The Broadcasting Authority. The more people like you that complain about them the more popular they become.
Popular for all the wrong reasons.don’t think I will be looking for an autograph.
Actrually German TV [ZDF] did a documentary on one of Limericks arch criminals Mikey Kelly[ deceased] back in the mid 90s.
They have done one on the recession in Ireland.,Ireland’s drug trade, Ryanair and its effects on places like Shannon and Hahn and a few others that you will never see on Irish telly.If you want to get a European audience on your pet peeve or project,call the Germans..
That man should need a permit to leave his house.
“A person going out playing a game of cards, having a drink or two and driving home never hurt anyone,” added Michael.
Actually they kill people, Michael. Alcohol is a factor in 33% of road deaths.
Alcohol is a factor in 33% of road deaths. What is a drink related incident or road death mean?
Alcohol and cars don’t kill people. People kill people!
So what’s your solution then Robin? Ban people?
You are more likely to crash if you drink and drive. This is not an opinion, it is a fact.
John. You are more likely to crash if you are texting while driving than drink driving. You also more likely to crash if you have two pints over 20 mins than 3 pints over 3 hours. I am not defending him but maybe that is what Healy Rae was talking about.
That’s why we are warned not to text and drive too. The road needs your full attention, you cannot give it if you are drunk or on the phone.
Another fact for all you red thumpers. A crash where only the passenger is drunk, or a cyclist or a pedestrian is also drink related.
Why can’t the rural folk drive to the pub and have a cup of tea instead of a pint? If it really is about rural isolation, then surely being in the company of others is the important thing, not the type of drink imbibed. It can’t be about the intoxicative qualities of beer, as apparently they’ll be safe enough to drive home. So what could it be? Lets throw out a wild guess that publican Danny would make less profits off tea than Guinness…
Danny knocked on my door one day in Killarney, looking for a vote. I asked him why I should vote for him?
His reply I kid you not was ” Sure am’nt I the first one to call”
That about sums up this “I turn up to every funeral Town Councillor”
When they meet him they’ll think father Ted was a Documentry.
OH ……..GOOD…….. GOD……… ALMIGHTY…………
Dear God! First we send turkeys to Europe to represent us in Eurovision in case we win and have to host the damn thing! Now we’re sending a political turkey! Is this the best we can front?
“I have three issues in the car”….I’m sure those mags will give you a hand getting over the rural isolation problem Danny boy.
Roseanne Davidson and Healey Rea, it’s going to be a sellout issue!
Calm down people. 1. The average joe German does not care about Ireland never has. He/she is more interested in their own life just like us. 2 Healy Rae has a point about rural life. Though the drink driving point was a bit whacko it did raise this issue( rural isolation ) to the forefront .
Wrong there mate. The Germans constitute a huge portion of annual tourists here. They accept Irish people in Germany with open arms unlike other Europeans. Of course they are interested in us.
Mick the point I was making that the average German wouldn’t care what a county councillor in Kerry says. I do a lot of work in Germany and your right they are very fond of Ireland .
Go on Danny. Show those Germans some Kerry Love.
Still legal in Germany I Think.
Do people ever think before they make comments? When Healy Rae says two pints then drive home, he didn’t say throw them straight back. You could drink 2 pints over a certain period of time and be quite under the limit
no one has a prob if you drink 2 pints over time and are “quite under the limit”…. Gardai wouldnt / couldnt touch you …(but mr Shatter might get to hear about it though) …. if you have 2 pints and are a little over the limit then it is a problem…. you then have become a danger on the road (no matter how well you played cards)…. and dont whinge if you loose your liscence ….if you cant go to a pub without drinking and driving then just stay at home and drink or go play cards and not drink…..simple choice but you live with the consequences of your own actions
Next up, a spread in Penthouse……… Run now.
OH…..GOOD……..GOD………ALMIGHTY……….
Herr Brain
“It was the one with Rosanna Davison in it. The one where she didn’t have much on… I was further on in the magazine from her. I have three of the issues in the boot of the car actually.”
I bet he does, and I bet you couldn’t open a single page!
and chances are it was all wasted on himself!
Maybe he might become a celebrity there and f##k there with the rest of his demented family
Herein lies the problem of free speech….
All publicity is good publicity – no one understands this better than the Healy-Rae’s
“A person going out playing a game of cards, having a drink or two and driving home never hurt anyone,” added Michael. Errrrrr……really Mike?
They should do a full time reality show. He could be the next honey boo boo.
Comment of the day so far Ben. Thanks for the giggle
Who’s getting the most laughs out of all this…?…
It may be genuinely interesting to see what the Germans may of this, if he’s portrayed in a serious light, oh crap, they’ll think we’re all like this. If he’s portrayed in a humorous manner it may be just as bad given that half his family have been elected to public office.
As a mother who has lost her son to a drunk -driver,,i find this publicity of the Healy -Rae saga an insult.have been known to make it more than clear of my views on his publicity stunt in the hope of getting more votes.I have been interviewed on the Journal in the past regarding my feelings regarding drink driving.I really would like to ask the producers of this German Television Crew to take the time to speak and listen to people like me–who have suffered as a result of a drunk driver.If i had their address and e-mail i would make it my mission to ask them to see this story from the other side.I would like to sit with Mr Healy-Rae and look him in the eye,,and ask him to clarify his ridiculous ‘Fairy Tail;of rural isolation.Shame on him and his supporters -they make a laughing stock of the Irish,,and God help one of them if they ever ‘Get that Knock ”on the door,,,
From a mother who has lost her son”””””””
Wrap a towel around his head and Danny Healy-Rea could pass as a member of the Taliban.
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