INDEPENDENT TD MICHAEL Healy-Rae has been allowed home from hospital after being taken ill in the Dáil yesterday, his brother said today.

Cllr Danny Healy-Rae, a member of Kerry County Council who also works as constituency secretary for his TD younger brother, told TheJournal.ie that Michael was “himself again” after being treated in hospital overnight.

He said he did not know the precise nature of his brother’s illness, but suggested it was not serious. “There’s nothing acute wrong with him. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was a combination of things,” Danny Healy-Rae said, adding: “He’s himself again today.”

Danny said his brother had been allowed out of hospital and was “on the way down home now”. Asked whether Michael would return to the Dáil next week, Danny said: “I’m sure he will.”

Michael Healy-Rae was taking part in a Dáil debate yesterday when he fell ill. It’s understood Minister for Health James Reilly, who is also a GP, attended to him outside the chamber before he was taken to St James’s Hospital in an ambulance.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath told RTÉ’s Marian Finucane Show today that Michael told him he had a “terrible pain” during a debate on the Social Welfare Bill. But he said his Dáil colleague had been anxious to remain in the chamber to vote against the Budget measures. “He was very anxious to have his say,” McGrath said.

McGrath added that he had spoken to Michael Healy-Rae this morning, saying he “sounds fine” and “hopes to make a full recovery soon”.

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