Jackie Healy-Rae: A unique voice in Irish politics

Jackie Healy-Rae rarely spoke in the Dáil, but was heard loud and clear in the corridors of power, says Donal Hickey <

JACKIE HEALY-RAE could have opted to draw the old- age pension and take life easy. He was 66 when he burst onto the national political stage and was, in his own words, “mad for road”.

And a long road it was. He had been in Fianna Fáil since the 1960’s and had spent many years as a county councillor and constituency director of elections for the party before he made an acrimonious break and stood as an Independent in the 1997 general election.