Government dismisses Healy-Rae’s bid to relax drink-driving limit in rural areas

By Hugh O'Connell

Image: Do not drink and drive via Shutterstock

22/01/13 13,004 Views 102 Comments

THE GOVERNMENT HAS dismissed a motion backed by Kerry County Council to relax drink-driving limits in rural parts of Ireland in order to allow isolated people to have “two or three” drinks before driving home.

The council last night voted in favour of a motion put forward by the independent councillor Danny Healy-Rae to allow gardaí to issue permits to people in the most isolated parts of the country to allow them to drive after drinking alcohol.

But the Department of Transport has dismissed the idea saying that relaxation of existing drink-driving limits was not needed given that stricter limits had led to a reduction in deaths on Irish roads.

When this response to his proposal was put to Healy-Rae this evening he responded: “We’ll see about that.”

The motion has drawn widespread criticism today from fellow councillors – many of whom either abstained or were absent from last night’s vote – as well as the Road Safety Authority and an alcohol awareness charity.

The current maximum blood-alcohol level is 50mg per 100ml of blood for most drivers and 20mg for learner and professional drivers.

The vote last night was passed by five to three with seven abstentions and 12 councillors not present. On foot of the motion being passed, the council had planned to write to the Department of Justice to lobby it on the matter.

Road deaths

However when contacted today, the Department referred the matter to the Department of Transport.

Contacted by TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for the Department said: “Last year was the safest on record for road deaths. Ireland is now the sixth safest country in the EU.

“Dublin is now the safest city in the EU for its roads, and motorways are among the safest roads in Ireland. Stricter rules on drink driving have played a key part in that achievement.

“Unfortunately, rural areas are among the most dangerous roads in Ireland. We need to be looking at how to make our roads safer, particularly in rural areas, instead of trying to reverse existing measures which are clearly working.”

Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie last night that his idea was aimed at helping people “in every parish who are isolated and who can’t get out of their place at night”.

He explained: “I see the merit in having a stricter rule of law for when there’s a massive volume of traffic and where there’s busy roads with massive speed. But on the roads I’m talking about, you couldn’t do any more than 20 or 30 miles per hour and it’s not a big deal. I don’t see any big issue with it.”

Contacted this evening to respond to the government’s dismissal of his proposal, Healy-Rae – brother of TD Michael Healy-Rae – said: “We’ll see about that… I can’t talk to you right now because I am going in the door.”

Read: Kerry councillors back plan to allow drink-driving ‘in moderation’

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Comments (64 Comments)
Order: Popularity

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Sara O Callaghan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Well i live on small back country roads and to say you can only go 20-30 miles an hour?! BS! I regularly see people doing in excess of 60 mph. What craziness is that idiot spouting. The govt need to stay strong on this and not bow to them. And almost everyone who voted in favour of the motion were publicans. They’re obviously not biased.

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  Jed I. Knight 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Have to agree with you there Sara, my daughter lives in the arsehole of nowhere, turn right past the Back of Beyond and you’re almost there. She regularly see’s “rural drivers” navigating the country roads at speeds approaching the sound barrier and it’s not unusual to see cars in a ditch at any time of the year. You have to wonder does this fool seriously believe that Kerry is the only part of the country with rural communities where people get lonely at night. Then what? All these lonely depressed Kerry people go out and cheer themselves up? Nope. They’re expected to consume a known depressant, alcohol. Brilliant Danny, brilliant.
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  John Duggan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Really? But it was such a viable and well thought out solution to a major social and economic problem.
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Ru Ni Digs 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
If the Healy-Rae’s were actually that concerned about “isolated people in rural areas”,they could put a private bus service on,they can well afford it.This is clearly a means to boost their fallen profits in their own pub,nothing more.

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Lieutenant Worf 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
“We’ll see about that”.
How deluded can this man be in trying to allow people drink and drive? He does, I presume, realise that his brother Michael has no influence in the Dáil (sitting in the colourful corner).
We all know the Healy Reas have a vested interest in such a proposal ie the Healy Rea pub.
Surely no one will criticise the Government on this decision.

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  Brendan Cunningham 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Challenge accepted! Just give me a while to think up a logical argument as to how the government have gotten this so wrong.
  ….. No. I got nothing.
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Chris Massey 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
If a child made a suggestion like Healy Rae did then their parents would be called in!! Show him some of the pictures from the scenes of fatal road accidents involving drink drivers.

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  - 511
  joe stodge 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Can we not exile him for his stupidity?
- - 69
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  Robin Pickering 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  He’s already in Kerry!
- - 27
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  Eddie Barrett 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Yes , but Kerry is the most beautiful part of Ireland – that’s not a sentence to exile him in our fair County !
  As the Publican concerned – seeing as his Family actually own a Pub in Kilgarvan – would Councillor Healy-Rae do, as very many Rural Publicans are doing all over Ireland & drive his Patrons home after their few pints – that would be seen as the real caring mentality of an Elected Representative surely?
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  john stone 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  We’ll see about that
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  Lorraine Cullinane 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  I have lost a family member due to the selfishness of a drunken driver, Healy-Rae should be ashamed of himself and owes the families of those who have lost a loved one through drink driving a massive apology in my opinion due to him encouraging drink driving. I wouldn’t wish the heartache that’s left behind to any family of a victim on my worst enemy. Stupid stupid man.
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  Terri O'Gorman McCormick 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Nice one!!!!!
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  - 3
  Aideen Stevens 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Exactly!
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JayK 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
“I don’t care if it saves lives, we want to drink and drive!”. The mind boggles.

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  JayK 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Not to mention he wants a permit for the elderly to drink and drive. In the dark in the countryside. Many older people have difficulty on the road at the best of times, and their tolerance to alcohol also declines.
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  Geraldine McDonald 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Exactly. If all of the older generation were to sit their driving test in this day and age, guarantee not one would pass
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Shane Ellis 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Moron

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  Cork Kunts 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  As we say in cork. What a langer
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  Cylon 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  I’m ashamed to be Irish when I hear crap like this
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  - 93
  Kevin Collins 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  i think the technical term is “gombeen”
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Ciaran Dillon 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Less than a third of the council voted on the issue and almost half of the council wasn’t even there. Pretty damning stats for local politics in this country…

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Martin Stapleton 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Unbelievable that a political representative could even think of this idea out loud. Our country is in good hands!!!!

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  Jason Walsh 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  I’m fearful of those that voted him into power. they are prob the same people that think his idea is a good idea. backward thinking folk.
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Lorraine Wharton 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I’m from (very) rural Kerry and all I can say is that I am mortified to think that the people of Ireland might think everybody in Kerry agrees with Healy-Rae’s stupid proposal. And of course its just pure coincidence that the Healy-Rae’s (and many of the councillors who voted in favour) are publicans …..

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Sean Walsh 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Is this guy for real ? Will he take the blame if there was an accident involving a drink driver ? Trying to cover this under the guise of saving lives from depression and suicide is a disgrace. And the beneficiaries of this would be himself and other council lets who own pubs in rural Kerry. If he’s so concerned about his constituents, why doesn’t he drive them to and from the pub himself. What an idiot and a disgrace.

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Dawn Keeballs 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Its a win win situation really he’s a publican and dabbles as an undertaker. He’ll feed ya full of pints and put givebya a nice box to rot in when ya crash on the way home

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Shit you not 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I’m submitting a partition to have the Healy Raes banished from this Island. Anyone feel like signing?

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  Stephen Small 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Where do I sign up???? Seriously.
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Paul O'Grady 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Danny Healey Rae is the local publican as well as being the local undertaker – obviously trying to drive business up on both fronts

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  Stephen Small 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Do they not also own a filling station/ convenience shop on the Kenmare side of the town? The have ya by the balls every way so. Full you with fuel, then full you with drink, then fill your coffin.
  
  Idiots.
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Malcolm Fairbrother 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
It’s absurd that councillors (who also just happen to be publicans) can simultaneously be so arrogant and moronic. Drink driving laws are in place for a very good reason, yet this gombeen starts suggesting that having a few jars will avert suicide among his constituents. What a despicable argument to put forward! Cllr. Healy-Rae – don’t try to fool us into thinking you’re doing this for the welfare of local people. It’s shady political dynasty of idiotic self-promotion, too surreal and ludicrous to be compared to a Father Ted episode.

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SMcB 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I don’t know what’s worse…. Kerry Co Co allowing Healy Rae to put the notion or the councillors who abstained / didn’t turn up thus allowing this nonsense motion to be carried. Shame on them all.

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  SMcB 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  *motion not notion
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  Stephen Small 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  To be honest, I reckon either word was applicable there.
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Martin Malone 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I live in rural Ireland, we need our roads to be safer. We don’t need more drunks on the road. Only a publican would come up with something so ludicrous.

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Dave Murray 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Healy-Rae knew that this muck-savagery had no hope of being taken seriously at government level.
So, in effect, what we are seeing here is a cheap and desperate attempt by Healy-Rae to seek votes from his electorate in advance of the next election – where I suspect he will ultimately seek election as a TD..
If the voters in Kerry are are fooled by this stunt and go on to elect him as a TD, then it’s safe to say that the people of Kerry deserve him.

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Jed I. Knight 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
A bloody joke to suggest something so offensive and ridiculous like that. I was talking to a Kerryman today, he told me these people are an embarrassment to most of the younger generation of Kerry. Its mainly the older generation who keep voting them in, but they have gombeen politics down to the level of an Olympic sport.

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Ciaran Morgan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I’ll give a tenner to anyone who can read Healy rae’s quotes without doing so in a thick Kerry accent!

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  Brian Horton 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Damn it. I owe you a tenner :(
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  Ru Ni Digs 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  You are asking the impossible there Ciaran.I’m not even going to try,I’ll just give you your tenner :-)
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  Marie O'Neill 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  I tried but I couldn’t understand myself.
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John Sheahan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Let me just say these Neanderthals are a constant embarrassment to us Kerry people. Same old muck savages keep voting them in.

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Orla Machin 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
How about the councillors sponsoring a mini bus taxi service or subsidising a taxi service, once a week on a rotation? That would allow folks to get to the pub without having to drive! Increase business, prevent accidents and keep Kerry people lubricated.

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Shane Ferguson 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
DoT: “Eh, no. Fewer people are being killed.”

Healy-Rae: “We’ll see about that.”

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Billy Fisher 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
When you consider that two-thirds of the council either abstained or couldn’t be bothered attending the meeting, you have to agree with the government’s decision to slash the number of councillors !

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Derek Fennelly 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Father Ted politics

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Philip Gallagher 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
That has to be the most stupid proposal I have ever heard from a politician. let people drink more before they take a car out on the road? is he totally bonkers? Yes, we will see about that, Healy Rae!

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Mike Dowling 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Once again the Healy-Raes manage to embarrass us all here in Kerry. Apologies for this idiot ……

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Graham Kiely 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
“Da rooaadds en eaaastt Kerrrea are soooooo bad, yoouuudddd sweaarrr you were in weeesssstttt Cork”

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  billtipp 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  easht and wesht
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TheHeathen 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Put the fool out to pasture! Unfortunately it’s on world news websites – ‘Those drunken Irish at it again.’
Horse burger jokes worldwide were bad enough. Now drunken Irish and Kerryman jokes back with a bang.
All because of this shitehawk!

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Lee Jones 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
what a moron when i hear clowns like the healy rae clan talk i am embarrassed to be irish what goes on in their heads to even think that this is a good idea does this man even live in the real world

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Joe McDermott 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Them folk are an embarassment.

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Tommy Harper 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
What an idiot, and it’s us, the taxpayer, paying idiots like this around 30-40k per year to come up with moronic proposals!!!

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Mike Clinton 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
It’s hard to believe this clown is an elected representative for the people of Kerry.
They must be cringing in embarrassment.

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brian magee 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
If he does own a pub, he should lose his licence for this bizarre suggestions as it shows he is off ill moral and questionable character as well as not realising the danger associated with drink driving,

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Paul Harvey 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
When you think the property tax will go to councils and idiots like him it’s a perfect reason not to pay

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Les Rock 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
As i said last night, get a community scheme going that provides transport, its not hard and its a solution.

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  Joan Ruud Donnellan-Wijnen 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  @ Les.. agreed.. This is a rural problem and somebody needs to come up with some good ideas.. Drink driving is not the answer but a solution is needed badly for people in rural areas..
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Orla Machin 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Maybe it’s a ploy by Kerry for the gathering….Hertz car rental offer a ‘piss up pass’ if you take a vacation in Kerry?

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Marko Burns 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Good to know all that household tax is going towards 12 absentee councillors and daft motions being carried by 5 to 3, with 4 of the votes being publicans.

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Felim Borland 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
How did it end up that so many councillors were missing from the vote when such a motion was being tabled? And why would the rest abstain?

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Miriam Kane 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Alcohol is itself a depressant substance. Coffee and tea are uppers. Could they not go to th pub an drink tea??

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Patrick Lyons 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Scrap Kerry County Council altogether. It is obvious that these clowns are a waste of money. A bunch of monkeys could do a better job and would cost less.

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Miriam Kane 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Would this so called permit mean that their insurance went up. Pissed farmers on shit roads?????

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tax slave 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I think this guy is ,healy, mad to propose this

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  Kevin McNeela 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Oh the irony, would love to how councillors who abstained were able to come out and criticise the yes vote. Why they didnt vote no.
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  SMcB 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  The local elections are in 2014…
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glenn fitzgerald 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Did ye hear the one about the Kerry man who got drunk and drove on a permit…….Healy Rae you legend you should be in a circus.

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Niamh King 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
organising a bus is what’s needed. If they charged 2€ to everyone who used it, and dropped them to and from their homes it would keep our country roads safe. If Healy Rae did this, he’d A) potentially create empolyment because he’d have to organise a bus, B) provide a service to those isolated citizens and potentially have some profits and C) maintain our safe roads! In fact, it could take those few people who do risk the drive as it is off the roads and make it safe. I think this is definitely someone who needs to think before he lets his nonsense out!

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Chris 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
When will the people of Kerry stop electing the Healy-Rae family?

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  mattoid 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  When the next election comes, we’ll see about that…
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patrick 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
A specific part of the request was for tractor drivers.

tractor drivers. You know those slow vehicles that keep the traffic backed up? the ones for agricultural use? the ones you use on a farm.

well now you can just nip down the local for a few scoops and there you have it.

Ugh.

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Eddie Walsh 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
I had to read this twice

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Witszend 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
He has succeed in getting a huge PR coup, we are the fools to be reading about he Healy Rae clan.

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big shmoke 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
http://youtu.be/Z4iysK9cp7M

Sums him up nicely I think…

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Ollie O'Cleirigh 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
That’s like something Fianna Fáil would come out with considering all their law breaking TD’s caught drink driving over the years.

Wait a minute…….the Healy Raes have always have been independent freelance Fianna failers. ;)

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David Duignan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
what a slack jawed yokel gombeen pump parish goat worshipping kerry bogman.

.

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sarah 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
someone mentioned this to me today and I genuinely thought they were joking. I can’t believe this is actually real!

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180maximum 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Did he go to the same PR coach as the lads in the NRA? Aside from that, why not bring in tax exemptions for rural publicans, take the VRT off diesel people carriers or 14 seater mini buses and allow them to use tax exempt fuel? Might be a bit safer getting a lift home than trying to keep her between the ditches after a skinfull of pints?

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fred 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
He’s guilty of drink driving. He sounds drank when I heard him talking on the radio this morning.

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Rob Henderson Jr 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Sex offenders get lonely sure we’ll let them have a go at the ugly ones while we’re at it ! Steaming Gobsh#*te.

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The Red Devil 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
What a crowd of idiots- all associated with the pub buisness I see- i think the gardai should enforce the drink driving laws in that part of the world- I’m sure they do already but to make the point the country says No To Drinking and Driving
Why don’t they employ courtesy cars if they care so much about the punters – I’m so glad those fools don’t represent me- I’d be ashamed if I was from Kerry also a statement like that could cause damage to the tourism industry just a taught

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Glenn Gillespie 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
This definitely applies here

http://youtu.be/5hfYJsQAhl0

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Mark Fitzhenry 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Only in Kerry!!.

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Joan Ruud Donnellan-Wijnen 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Well.. I see both sides of the argument .. I’m from west rural Ireland, but im lucky, i live close enough to a town so I can walk to a pub, I know plenty that can’t and they also can’t afford €10-20 for a 5-10 minute taxi trip.. It’s sad.. I don’t agree with drinking & driving but whether you care or not, it’s the people in the country that are suffering the most..no proper bus facilities either.. Unless you want to go to the pub on the 1pm bus and come home on the last bus which is the 6pm in my town! No easy answer to this at all..just count yourself lucky if you live in the city and don’t be so quick to judge people that aren’t …

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  Ciaran Morgan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Go to the pub and don’t drink? Is that so difficult to do?
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  Alan Burke 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Can these “isolated people” not drive to the pub and have a soft drink/coffee/non-alco? Why do they see a need to associate socolialising with alcohol? This seems to be a non issue
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  Joan Ruud Donnellan-Wijnen 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Yes.. If you fancy a pint..
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  Ciaran Morgan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Healy Rae insinuated that people are suicidal because they can’t socialise in the pub. In this context, why can they go and not drink?
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  Dylan Robert Morrow 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Why don’t publicans show some initiative and run minibus services in rural areas, discount low alcohol and soft drinks….
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  joe stodge 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  They are suicidal? Nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away.
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  Robert Kennedy 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  They can’t afford a taxi for 10 or 20 euros but they can sit in the pub for a night and spend 70 or 80 and the rest…… The figures add up there
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Paul Bennison 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Interesting ? So if I’m walking down that country lane and all of a sudden I get hit by a car and killed, and the driver turns out to have a pass from the government allowing him to drive. The guards won’t be able to prosecute him as he has a government drive as pissed as a fart pass. my family will try to work out who to sue first the government for issuing permission for a drunk driver on the road, the guards for letting a drink driver on the roads or the insurance company for insuring the driver to be on the road. What a fecking joke most Irish people are not stupid, the small percentage of stupid Irish seem to be in government.

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Diego Zanella 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Since the issue seems to be the loneliness of people in rural areas, who cannot go around to socialise, how about estabilishing a local minibus service for them?

In many remote parts of Scotland, which could be even more inaccessible than Kerry, they issued special van/buses to Royal Mail postmen, so that the driver can both use them to both deliver the mail and to bring people to town and back. It doesn’t seem impossible, to me, to provide a weekend service, even just for two round trips a day, to collect people who would like to enjoy a pint with local friends.

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Dmillar 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
To every Kerry person out there. The world is laughing and taking the piss out of Ireland with this total piece of stupidity. To those who voted him in it just shows how fecking stupid you are. To those who voted the other council members in. U voted for someone who could not even bother to turn up and say no to this stupidity. I’d say everyone of them council members sleep well at night laughing at the people that voted them in to do completely fecking nothing. And finally would this not be one of them situations where he was using his position for personnel gain. Is that not against the law Berty.

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Sean Stiffmiester O Cleirchin 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
It’s a great idea 3 pints of beer is no harm would love to see this come in to affect for the older rural folk !

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  Robin Pickering 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Idiot.
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  Ciaran Morgan 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  You are correct, Drinking and driving would affect older rural folk!
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  Brendan Palmer 22/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
  Your 3 pints have obviously *affected* your thought processes. What about the *effect* on your driving
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Shane Bradley 23/01/13 Comment reported, thank you Report this comment
Why is everyone focusing on Healy-Rae? There were 4 other buck ejits who helped pass the motion of lunacy, as well as was it 7? too cowardly to vote for sense and reason?
This is such a nonsense.. one has to wonder if this story is a bit of news management to hide/ distract us or more likely the people of Kerry from se unpleasant news.

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