Michael Healy-Rae: 'I owe an awful lot of money to banks'

Kerry TDs Danny and Michael Healy-Rae at the Healy-Rae Bar in Kilgarvan, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan

Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has hit back at claims about his wealth, saying his businesses are struggling and that it is "absolute rubbish" to say he is one of the richest TDs in the country.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, he says he owes a substantial amount of money to the banks and insists he has every right to speak for working-class people.

Mr Healy-Rae said he is “continuously” in debt. 

The Kilgarvan native would not say how many properties he owns but the latest Dáil records, published in 2023 for 2022, show he has around 20 properties across The Kingdom, including his private residence.

The majority are rental properties, including student accommodation, homes, apartments, farmhouses, and B&Bs, and also include vacant premises.

For subscribers: Senior Political Correspondent Ciara Phelan spent two days with the Healy-Raes in Kilgarvan last year. Read her full account here.

He also has 104 acres of farmland and forestry and lists his occupations as postmaster, farmer, service station and plant-hire owner. The TD has shares in the New York Times  company. He has also received over €500,000 to date from the Government for accommodating Ukrainians at one of his properties.

Mr Healy-Rae said it is a “nonsensical statement” to say he cannot be a voice for the working class when he owns multiple properties and businesses.

He insists it is “absolutely rubbish” that he is one of the wealthiest TDs in the Dáil.

I have a shop that employs 17 people and that shop was really, really struggling the last number of years.

“It has lost money," he said. "It’s a convenience shop, it’s a petrol station, so it's struggling to pay its bills, pay wages, and keep the door open.

“I’ve a plant-hire [company] and if I wasn’t sitting here in a suit, I’d be up on a digger driving a machine... again, a very tough and competitive business to be at.”

Accounts for Black Cap & Company Ltd, the firm that operates the fuel station and is co-owned by Mr Healy-Rae, show it recorded a loss in 2022 of €99,867.

In March 2023, accounts filed by his Roughty Plant Hire Ltd firm showed accumulated profits increased to €692,609.

However, the outspoken TD said he has never in his life been out of debt.

I’d have a good share of property, right? But I owe an awful lot of money to banks.

"I’ve an awful lot of obligations. To run a thing like that, it takes a lot of money and it’s just like any business," he said.

“The obligations that are there today and the costs that are involved today, it isn’t as though you have all this money, that’s not true.”

Michael Healy-Rae says he is continuously borrowing from banks to reinvest. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

He said he is continuously borrowing from the banks to reinvest.

“When you’re a politician and when you’re farming, at contracting, when you’ve property and a small business like a petrol station... any of the people that come to you with problems, sure any problem they come to me with, aren’t you after having it yourself already?” he said.

When put to him that he has never been on the breadline or faced being homeless, like many people who come to him for help, Mr Healy-Rae said when he began working, he slept in a caravan without electricity and water while working in forestry, cutting timber.

“Any person that would give the impression that I was born with some silver spoon in my mouth, something is wrong,” he said.

TD Danny Healy-Rae says he is not a millionaire and does not discuss business with his brother Michael. Picture: Dan Linehan

Meanwhile, his brother, TD Danny Healy-Rae, has seen his business boom, with his own plant-hire company enjoying a record year in 2022 to return profits of €1.12m.

However, speaking from his pub in Kilgarvan, he said he is not a millionaire and also revealed that despite their close relationship, he does not discuss business with his brother.