LAST UPDATE | 23 hrs ago

A MAN IN his 50s has been arrested in connection with the alleged assault on TD Michael Healy-Rae.

Gardaí confirmed the arrest in a press release this afternoon and said updates will follow in due course as the investigation continues. 

The Independent TD was assaulted by a lone male while he was stopped in traffic on his way home from Dáil Éireann shortly after 4pm near the Coombe hospital on Cork Street. 

It was a warm evening in Dublin on Wednesday and the TD had his window down.

In videos posted online, three gardaí and a person appearing to be wearing scrubs can be seen speaking to Healy-Rae in his vehicle before he exits the car and walks slowly over to a garda car and gets inside.

The Kerry TD attended St Vincent’s University Hospital and was discharged shortly before 9pm on Wednesday after receiving stitches in the “area around his mouth”.

He is now back in Kerry. 

Earlier this afternoon, gardaí released details on a suspect and said they were urging the man who committed the assault to come forward.

“This male is approximately 50 years old. He was wearing glasses, he had a medium-sized brown dog with him on a lead and a bright-yellow square-shaped carrier bag,” Dublin Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Roberts told the media at Dublin Castle.

“He was wearing a grey jacket, a two-toned top and dark-coloured trousers.”

The assistant commissioner said gardaí have a “good” CCTV image of the man and that gardaí were “confident it is only a matter of time until he is identified”.

In a statement shared on social media this morning, Healy-Rae said he wanted to “sincerely thank the Gardaí at Kevin Street Garda Station, the ambulance crew and all the staff at St Vincent’s Hospital for the care and assistance they gave to me”. 

pic.twitter.com/qzJcH4aK6V

— Michael Healy-Rae (@MHealyRae) September 17, 2026

He said he was also “deeply grateful to the thousands of people in Kerry and across the country who have contacted me and my family”. 

“Your kindness and good wishes have meant a great deal to us,” he said. 

“Whatever the intention behind this attack, I will not be deterred from continuing my work or from representing the people of Kerry to the very best of my ability.”

He continued: “However, we do need to have a serious conversation about the growing toxicity directed towards politicians and public representatives”. 

Disagreement and robust political debate are entirely legitimate, but personal abuse, intimidation and violence can never be accepted or normalised in a democratic society.

Healy-Rae said he is looking forward to getting back to work in the coming days “and trust the Gardaí will find the perpetrator and bring him to justice”. 

‘A bit shaken up’

Speaking on Radio Kerry this morning, his son Jackie Healy-Rae Jnr said Michael had returned to Kerry late on Wednesday night after being released from hospital.

Jackie said his father was “a bit shaken up” but feels “relieved” this morning. 

“He’s a bit shook, a bit sore as well,” he said. “He’s at home at the moment, but as you can imagine, after an incident like that, a bit shook, but sore as well this morning.”

Jackie had been on the phone to Michael when the incident kicked off. 

“I heard it all unfold in the background. You could hear somebody starting to shout from a distance, and then within seconds, all you could hear was an awful commotion going on inside the car.

“I wasn’t able to rightly understand what was happening only that something very serious was happening on the other end of the line.”

The assault has been widely condemned by TDs across the political spectrum, including by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who said he had been “deeply shocked and concerned” by it.

“Violence has no place in a democracy, and those elected to represent the people must be allowed to do their work without fear of abuse or assault,” he said in a statement.

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday evening, hours after the assault took place, an emotional Danny Healy-Rae said he was “very disappointed” with the news. 

“It’s not on. He was just doing his work or wherever he was going, stopped on the road, and someone hit him in the window. It’s not good enough,” he said. 

“I hope he’ll be alright. I hope his family will be all right. It’s something that’s hurting me as much as anyone else.”

He added that this sort of thing should not happen to public representatives.

“We get elected to help the people, not to hurt them… We are doing our best and tis unfair to hit a fella in the window without being able to defend himself.”

Additional reporting by Emma Hickey and Eimer McAuley