The Healy-Raes SPAT on their hands and a two-for-one voting deal was sealed... but this week it came back to HAUNT Micheál Martin after a power play that could yet spell disaster for the Taoiseach

Published: 00:37, 19 April 2026 | Updated: 00:37, 19 April 2026 The minister I was speaking to was just off the phone to a constituent who had threatened to shoot him. ‘That makes five,’ he told me. This was what politicians were enduring last week, away from the more visible instances of trucks blockading motorways, streets and ports. He was upset. But we agreed that whatever concerns people had about the cost of living, blockading public highways and key infrastructure and erecting checkpoints on roads was criminality. Gardaí finally cleared the blockade at Whitegate oil refinery on Saturday Despite action over death threats against high-profile politicians such as Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris, a casual, acceptance seems to greet such behaviour from certain sections of society. At the end of the conversation, as an aside, the minister mentioned that Michael Healy-Rae was to be forced to leave Government if he couldn’t convince his older brother and fellow Kerry Independent TD Danny to vote confidence in the Coalition. I was confused. Only the day before, I had interrupted my viewing of a compelling final round of the US Masters to watch a video of minister Michael Healy-Rae declaring his unambiguous intention to vote with the Government in the upcoming motion of confidence on Tuesday. Michael looked tired and stressed, but he had been very clear. ‘Danny, you mean?’ I asked, as it was clear the elder Healy-Rae intended to vote against the Government. I had been briefed that Michael Lowry, ‘the real leader’ of the Coalition’s Regional Independents, and others had been trying, with increasing futility, to persuade Danny to come back into the fold. ‘No, Michael. He’s been told that the Taoiseach is adamant that a “two-for-one” deal was made at the formation of the Government, and if he can’t convince Danny to come back into line, he has to resign,’ said my contact. The previous three days, Fianna Fáil had spent in internecine squabbling. Virtually everyone you speak to in Government believes that they catastrophically mishandled the blockades of ports and critical infrastructure. The unanimity disappears, however, when you ask how it was mishandled. Ministers and a majority of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government TDs acknowledged by the midpoint of the week of the protests that they were completely excessive in the disruption they were causing the general public. Ministers, TDs and senators were being threatened. But there was also a small group of TDs in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who supported the protesters, who they claim were representatives of well-meaning farming and transport groups. Indeed, Government TDs such as former Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl had warned weeks earlier that a failure to have adequate cuts on green diesel was aggravating rural voters. In any case, belatedly, by around Thursday, it had dawned on the Coalition leadership that they’d lost control. It was then only the next morning that Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly cut short his family holiday – as revealed exclusively by the Irish Mail on Sunday last week – and took back the reins of An Garda Síochána. As panic grew about the protests, on Saturday, a carrot and stick strategy was put together by the Coalition. The stick was the only act of true leadership from Government last week. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan ordered the State’s security forces to end illegal blockades of ports. Incredibly, the Coalition had let the nasty protest drift to a point where the entire nation had only a few days of usable oil left, as Whitegate is our only oil refinery. By Saturday evening, the blockade at Whitegate Oil was broken. The carrot was an extra €500 million to buy off the protesters. However, Fine Gael had already briefed its parliamentary party (PP) on events on Friday, and was preparing an online full parliamentary party meeting for Sunday. On Saturday, Fianna Fáil TDs approached the leadership asking for their own meeting to discuss the unpublished package and the events of the week, which had caused such political damage for rural backbenchers. Among the many modern developments Fianna Fáil has failed to understand is how to stop participants leaking during online meetings. The denial of a meeting to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, at the same time as the Fine Gael PP was being briefed, and the Cabinet deciding on the package, multiplied the anger and paranoia of the Fianna Fáilers. Things came to a head when Fianna Fáil Carlow-Kilkenny TD John McGuinness said he could rent a conference room at the Kilkenny New Park Hotel for parliamentary party members to meet without the agreement of the leadership. Such a meeting could only ever be seen as a prelude to a heave. As such, the party leadership rushed to organise an in-person parliamentary meeting in Leinster House on Monday. As this was going on, a red herring was launched by the blue side of the Coalition. Mr O’Callaghan was the proactive figure who co-ordinated the Garda response, which by Sunday had been demonstrated to be both effective and generally well-received. This obviously couldn’t stand. So Fine Gael sources let it be known that Defence Minister Helen McEntee was not happy with not being consulted by the Justice Minister about the request for equipment from the Army. This was an overreach, it was claimed, and evidently raised at Cabinet. What seems to have been conveniently forgotten is that the request was made with the full knowledge of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, Ms McEntee’s party leader. Don’t let the facts get in the way of everyone’s favourite political parlour game, the post-crisis apportioning of blame. Perhaps Ms McEntee was still silently seething from the shellacking her own reputation as justice minister received during the last general election campaign. But the squabble only served to confirm the absence of a cohesive plan to deal with the blockades. If asking the Army for tow trucks was a bridge too far, then Monday’s events appeared to be the longest day. As it became apparent that the Government would face a motion of no confidence from the opposition, the Regional Independent Group’s Tipperary TD Michael Lowry and colleagues put strenuous effort into convincing Danny Healy-Rae to support the Government. Danny Healy-Rae had been videoed with protesters on a rural road. Yet a TD familiar with the efforts to turn Danny told the MoS: ‘It became clear that he can’t abide Micheál Martin, he just can’t stand him. And he repeatedly said that the people that vote for him see Micheál Martin as a “hate figure”.’ But a source in the Regional Independents, added: ‘Mikey [Michael Healy-Rae] was solid, solid as a rock and we told the leaders of the two parties this. We weren’t concerned about his situation. It was widely assumed that Danny would go [vote against the Government] and Michael would vote for us.’ Michael Healy-Rae had distributed an emotional video on social media on Sunday confirming his steadfast support for the Government. Although Danny Healy-Rae had voted against the Government before, this was a confidence motion, and suddenly, to the surprise of everyone, Mr Martin’s team raised the events of the ‘Healy-Rae Deal’ that was struck to support the Coalition in early 2025. It was a dramatic occasion in a nondescript room in Government Buildings when, as one eyewitness described it: ‘They did that thing where they spit on the hand and shake hands.’ Not for the last time during this week of frantic briefings, I was confused, and I asked: ‘You mean Micheál Martin and Michael Healy-Rae? They spat on their hands?’ ‘No!’ replied the source, ‘the Healy-Raes did.’ According to those present, the Healy-Raes sealed the deal in the manner that men agree to sell a heifer at a rural fair. ‘In return for that, you’re getting two votes,’ said a minister who was involved in Government formation talks, ‘So in fairness to the Taoiseach, they were saying that they were bringing two votes. They were not part of Michael Lowry’s gang, they were the fourth leg. They were saying: “We’re the Healy-Rae machine”. ‘So they got a ministry, the son got an adviser’s role. Danny got a seat on the Agriculture Committee.’ Striking the deal – which was never committed to paper – the Healy-Raes drove a hard bargain. Michael was the first to be elected to the Dáil – filling the seat of their legendary father Jackie Healy-Rae – and has the far larger vote. So he sought the leading role. A minister says of talks: ‘They negotiated hard. They wanted a full Cabinet ministry for Michael, they wanted a committee chair for Danny. They didn’t get that. And then they wanted a Super Junior for Michael, they didn’t get that, and eventually they settled for a junior ministry. But that’ll show you how interested they were in being in Government. ‘And yes, it was two votes in return for Michael’s ministry,’ said a minister. Yet, I, and many other journalists who covered the talks, and all the politicians I spoke to last week, didn’t hear again about the ‘two-for-one’ deal, and certainly not on all the occasions that Danny Healy-Rae voted against the Government. After the emotional pledge on social media, according to Regional Independent colleagues, Michael Healy-Rae was rock solid: ‘Mikey was fixed, it was all fixed.’ Then on Monday night, Mr Martin’s Chief of Staff Deirdre Gillane contacted Michael Healy-Rae to tell him that the Taoiseach was ‘adamant’ that there was a ‘two-for-one’ deal, and that it was to be enforced. Ms Gillane, according to members of the Regional Independents, told Michael that the Taoiseach could not ‘wear’ it with his own backbenchers for one Healy-Rae to be out and the other in. If Michael wanted to stay in Government – and my understanding is that he did – his only route was to try and convince Danny to vote with the Government. A task difficult enough that it could easily fit in as Hercules’ 13th labour. Michael Healy-Rae strikes a defiant pose after resigning as a junior minister The MoS understands that Michael Healy-Rae contacted Michael Lowry to tell him of the conversation with Gillane. The MoS understands that Michael Healy-Rae told Lowry: ‘I’ve never been sacked from a job in my life, so I’ll be resigning.’ Two members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, independently, told the MoS that Mr Martin – despite suggestions he was blindsided by the resignation – told them early last week of the requirement that both Healy-Raes be delivered. Before Tuesday’s vote, Mr Lowry, whose political judgement is respected across the Coalition, contacted Ms Gillane. She confirmed to him that the Taoiseach was ‘adamant’ that both Healy- Raes had committed to a deal for two votes in 2025 and Mr Martin would enforce it. But unlike with the calling in of the army, at no point were senior members of Fine Gael consulted on these discussions. If they had been, they would have been far less draconian. A senior Fine Gael figure involved in the formation of the Government said: ‘There’s realpolitik. And the realpolitik is, really, if on a very difficult issue for the country if Danny Healy-Rae goes overboard are you really going to say, well, the best way to de-escalate this situation is to get rid of a minister? You’re going to reduce your majority. No, it wasn’t a good move.’ In recent days, Fine Gael has become aware that somebody in the Taoiseach’s office approached both Michael Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry. Yet senior members of Fine Gael are mystified as to why Mr Martin chose to push enforcement of a verbal agreement that almost everyone had forgotten about. The Taoiseach’s chief of staff wasn’t the only person Michael Healy-Rae spoke to on Monday. He claimed in the Dáil that day that he even spoke to his deceased father Jackie, seeking his heavenly advice. Michael Healy-Rae said he spoke to the spirit of his late father Jackie, pictured here in 2002 He told the Dáil when resigning, ‘When I see people on the side of the road, when I’ve seen grown men crying… when I met tractor men, lorry men, farmers. And when they were telling me how unhappy they were, the leader of the country should have listened.’ It is a criticism that has been directed at Mr Martin internally for years, and now externally, by more than just the Healy-Raes. This Coalition was re-elected in the wake of Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States. The unloved Government was installed as a bulwark against chaos on a promise of competence. Last week’s events call into serious question this Coalition’s basic competence. In all the collapsed Governments I’ve covered over the last 20 years, every end had a beginning. The most palpable signal of the beginning of the end is when they start losing TDs. Only the worst of Governments lose TDs needlessly, votes they will need in hard times ahead. With Trump and Iran continuing their dance of death over the Straits of Hormuz throughout yesterday, hard times are all that can be foreseen from every vantage point. The confidence motion was supported by 92 votes, for a Dáil majority of five. After the May by-elections, that majority is likely to be four. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.