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KERRY INDEPENDENT TD Danny Healy Rae has argued passionately that a driver who has consumed “two or three glasses” of beer represents no danger to the public.
Speaking regarding Minister for Transport Shane Ross’ proposed Dáil bill (which would see an automatic driving ban for three months handed down to those caught drink-driving between the between 50-80 mg limit), Healy Rae spoke about the need for laxer laws in rural Ireland.
Speaking to Today with Pat Kenny on Newstalk radio, Healy Rae argued that “someone with three glasses drunk is not a danger on our roads, I firmly believe that”.
Healy Rae, together with his brother and fellow TD Michael, has long been an advocate for the position that tough drink-driving laws are a danger to rural lifestyles.
The first-time TD is himself a non-drinker.
“Many people I meet around the county I represent have the very same belief,” he said. “When they (the Department of Transport) can’t substantiate their figures, I don’t believe them.”
Ross’ bill would see a mandatory driving ban applied for anyone caught driving with more than the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of 0.50 mg.
At present, a first-time offender with between 0.50 mg and 0.80 mg BAC is punished with penalty points rather than a ban.
“I go into pubs as much as anyone else, but you have people who want to drink those three glasses of beer or Guinness, and it’s their only social outlet in rural ireland,” Healy Rae said.
People in urban areas like Dublin have several different means of transport for getting home.
The people I represent live three or four miles down a little road that they can only drive in 2nd or 3rd gear as the road determines the speed at which they must travel.
I’ve never heard of anyone being killed or of a fatal accident because of three glasses.
Asked would he get on a plane where the pilot had consumed alcohol, the Kerry TD replied in the affirmative.
“Firstly I have never condoned drunk driving at any time in the past. It doesn’t happen anymore, and if I saw someone not fit to drive I’d take them home myself.”
But I won’t believe until the day I die someone who drinks two or three glasses, or a pint-and-a-half, are a liability or danger on the road. And if a pilot had three glasses I’d get on the plane myself. I believe what I’m saying.
Speaking later on the same programme, Shane Ross himself said “it’s not a matter of numbers”.
“If you can save people’s lives by doing this… then let’s do it. Let’s do it even if it’s only five or six a year, that’s still five or six people dying,” he said.
The contentious issue has divided many TDs in the Dáil, with a urban versus rural split clearly evident. Due to this fact, in February, TheJournal.ie reported that Ross would be seeking a free vote on the issue.
Today Cabinet endorsed the Bill, and it is understood that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told his Cabinet ministers, including super junior ministers, they will be bound to vote in favour of the Bill.
This will result in some ministers such as Communications Minister Denis Naughten (who has expressed reservations about the Bill) having to tow the line.
It’s believed the Fine Gael parliamentary party will now decide whether there should be a free vote for Fine Gael TDs on the drink driving bill.
The matter is due to be decided upon in the autumn.
with additional reporting by Christina Finn
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Danny Healy Rae is a chancer of the highest order. Just looking after vested interests.
@Kevin Rooney:
He was right about climate change though.
Total myth.
@Kevin Rooney: what a clown that guy is. Anti global warming and pro drink driving. Shame on the prime if Kerry for voting this dope into office.
@Mark DeFriest: Tesco is doing a deal on tinfoil, you need a new hat
@Peter Cavey: Pro drink driving is not pro drunk driving. He didn’t say 3 glasses of Guinness over a certain period of time. If you are drunk after having a pint after an hour then just give up drinking.
@Shawn Rahoon: Don’t drink alcohol and drive, it’s not rocket science, even a small amount of alcohol already impairs your reaction time.
@Peter Cavey: there is a lot more dopes around when you see who gets elected around the country.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Your reference to rocket science means nothing to Danny Healy Rae , he has rocket surgeons giving him advice .
@Kevin Rooney: he is a thick
@Peter Cavey: And while shame is mentioned,Total Shame on the people of NORTH TIPP for voting that scoundrel Lowrey in.And I mean North Tipp,because no one in South Tipp would vote for this “Profoundly Corr*pt Cr**i**L.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: If we were to name everything which can impair driving, a lot of people would be off the road.
@Mark DeFriest: right about climate change? He said only God himself controls the weather. Do you believe that Mark?
@Dermot Lane
No one has been able to disprove his arguments though.
Is he the reason there’s Kerry man jokes ?
@Gavin Merrigan: Nope. We are all as thick as shít.
He lives in a world of his own.
@Anthony Byrne: yes, it’s called Kerry.
@Anthony Byrne: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199008163230706
If he had a big feed would he get on the plane.
@John:
Pay by weight, like the proposed bin charges.
He’s right there’s no such a thing as drunk driving, God is in control of the car…….
Hahaha. Laughed out loud at that Gareth.
While road deaths decrease year by year, the suicide rate increases. So if Shane Ross is serious about saving six lives a year, maybe he should listen to Jackie Healy Rae’s arguments. There are NO TAXIS in rural Ireland, nor any other means of public transport. People prefer to sit alone at home rather than risk a pint or two at the pub with friends. Isolation is a major contributory factor to depression. It’s not hard to hang yourself in the barn in a moment of despair if no-one is around to talk you out of it.
@Clare Leon: like mentioned by another commenter already, if people are that lonely and pining for the pub, why don’t they drink nonalcoholic beverages while enjoying each others company?
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: have you ever tasted non alcohol beer, it should be banned….
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: cappuchino is over 3 euros., i go pubs , i think they hate serving coffee…
Dose he own a pub
@James Mc Loughlin:
Is the alcohol lobby the most influential in Dail Eireann?
Answer to both questions:
Yes.
@James Mc Loughlin: I am sure the Healy Rae’s have a bar
If the rural dwellers in Kerry or elsewhere in rural Ireland are so lonely and isolated is there any reaon why they can’t drive to the pub, play cards, watch TV with the other men/women, exchange the local news,and drink a couple of pints of shandy or Cidona?? And then drive safely home? Given the choice of no alcohol or no social interaction I know what I’d pick if I was lonely.
@Molly1952: I’d move…..
Well if he wants to be in a plane crash or car crash then good for him but he has to realise most people don’t.
He makes Trump sound like is is talking sense
He’s right too.
Whenever I go drinking in the sticks where there’s no gardai to bother yeh and after a few scoops I drive home at 20 kilometres an hour with my hazard lights on. Never had a tip in me life.
@Mark DeFriest: That you know of…
Typical of a publican politician. He should provide transport for his customers.
Sharp as a Marble is our Danny Healy Rae
@Eddie Byrne: No – the sharpest TD is the Boxer from Athlone, who can’t read or write¡ But says he’s the smartest man alive! There’s NO doubt – we can pick them!!! And then we blame everyone else – Trump, Brexit, UK, EU, NI, UN etc.
How did the electorate in Kerry see fit to put this individual in The Dail to represent them? He is the epitome of a thick mountain mans
Will somebody just force him to do take the virtual driving set-up and show him.
The commentary on here is so biased against one man and his home in rural Ireland that nobody is addressing the issue.
The data that’s being used to bolster the argument is out of date and flawed.
It’s from 5 years ago and increased Garda detection rate is from less tests than were reported before so the percentage is up.
Could we have a proper study and then have a discussion.
@Gerry Ryan deG: this is how they started on the cigarettes they are killing us etc now that they have most of us afraid to smoke they are starting on the pint what will it be next they have already started on sugar and any product containing day there isn’t much left well I suppose there is always air….
@Peter donnelly: should read containing fat….
This man is a proper numpty.
@Brian Lilly: As a member of the Numpty community I’m offended by your comparison .
Not for a second would I agree with what he saying.but anyone saying that Danny Healy Rae is a fool needs to check again. People like his brother, his father and the likes of Michael Lowery have been playing that card for decades, they will keep saying whatever ” annoys the liberals in Dublin” the most and they will keep been elected.
If you want to get rid of the Healy Raes etc, stop rising to the bait and ignore them.
He’s right though . I was in a pub in kerry once and got drunk , the barman asked me if I was driving , and I said yes , He then said , good , you’re in no condition to walk .
@Ken Hayden: I’d swear I’d read that joke somewhere before
@Dave O’Hanlon: That’s what happens after I’ve had a few drinks , and the traffic on the M50 is slow moving , so I’m bored as well : )
An absolute clown – teetotal and giving advice on drinking. But then, we had priests giving sex education and marriage guidance – when they couldn’t keep their hands off their pupils¡ No country in the EU doesn’t ban drink drivers!
One pint before a meal on a night out is grand.
What a dumb fool.I can’t believe the people in Kerry are still voting this clown into the Irish parliament.
@Colm Mcmahon: that’s where the old Kerry man jokes came from ”’
We could arrange it or maybe Russian Roulette
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Yes with a chimp as the pilot. Or better yet just let the chimp take his seat in the Dáil
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Yes with a chimp as the pilot. Or better yet just let the chimp take his seat in the Dáil
@Darren Byrne: there’s enough chimps there already!!
Well, this will be on Sky or CNN soon…
Complete and utter tit
What was Kerry thinking……
@Peadar Ó Gréacháin: no comment
Ireland’s enforcement of road safety is the biggest joke here. How many contributers have been breath tested or had their car given a once over for bald tyres or faulty lights in the last six months? Many have never been breath tested and the chances of being tested for other drugs is likely rare. Speed detection(entrapment) is even worse with most caught where the speed drops down suddenly and a van just happens to be parked. I would say stop creating more and more laws and enforce those on the books. Whay happens if when we have this legislation/law embedded in road deaths still increase? will we scrap it or start to ban smoking and driving because nicotine is a relaxant. Of course there have been some horrific road deaths contributed to abuse of alcohol and that will continue because the folk who take the big chances do not care about the law…many are banned a number of times and still drive and never tax or insure their cars…the legal system has a lot to answer including the droves of offenders who have their cases thrown out of court on technicalities.
Is he for real???? 2/3 glasses of wine not fine for a driver never mind a pilot! I suggest Mr Healy Rae speaks to those effected by drunk drivers and hopefully sees the suffering caused maybe then he might come back to reality! Total moron. There’s things called taxis in rural areas too!
@shaz: a few years ago, Mattie McGrath said, “Any man who can’t drive safely with a few pints in him shouldn’t even be drinkin.’ ” (or words to that effect.)
@Paul Jennings: omg and people voted for these morons!!!!! I hope a drunk driver crosses their path, it would be interesting to see if their tune would change then!
Understand what’s minister Ross is trying to do here. Any chance he would improve rural transportation now and provide an evening service to allow locals get home or even a publican incentive?
If I drank three pints I’d be a danger to others on the road,
If he supplys the car and allows me to drive it on a private road I’ll happily show him how unfit to drive I’d be after 3 pints.
@Barry Somers: Healy Rea said two or three glasses not three pints. I drank around 4 pints at a wedding reception over a period of about 6 hours. I drove home as sober as before I started drinking and was of no danger to other road users.
And you would die in a plane crash mate.
@Darren Bates: He might have a point , the last couple of plane disasters have been the result of planes being shot down by missiles , they’re a lot harder to hit if the pilot is swerving all over the place : )
@Darren Bates: great, we wouldn’t have to listen to any more nonsense from this ignoramus…..
As a Kerryman let me be the first to say what an honour it is to be from the same County as this articulate, intelligent ma…..oh bollocks.
@John Shea Hen: Fair play to him , he speaks his mind , he just doesn’t mind what he speaks though .
Buddy Holly said something similar.
This man is comedy gold. He is a throw back to a bygone era (neolithic period)
He doesn’t drink yet declares himself to be an authority on the volume of alcohol consumption required to impair the senses of the average barfly to the extent where he or she is capable of killing somebody with a motorised vehicle. Apparently three glasses of beer, no alcoholic strength specified, is below the threshold and presumably the actual threshold, which he fails to mention, has been calculated after many years of observing paying clientele getting wasted in his family boozer over the past half a century and then hopping in the jammer to zig zag back to the farm. There is no conflict of interest here of course.
“‘If a pilot had two or three glasses to drink I’d still get on the plane’”
Of course he would get on the plane. He thinks it’s god that holds the plane anyway.
Hillbilly elected by hillbillies…
Was the pilot ready to meet a load of virgin’s
Better to remain silent and thought to be a fool than speak and remove all dought!
@Dilly Dong: Doh !
We get what we deserve. The electorate put him there, just as they did Ahern, Lowry, Burke, etc.
Can someone not express an opinion without this kind of personal abuse. Bottom line is he is actually correct. There are few people who would pose serious risk by virtue of the fact that they had consumed a pint and a half. Also we do not have mandatory sentences for much more serious crimes such as assault burglary, or even manslaughter. I believe that everyone has a right to voice an opinion without being described as a muckspreader etc.
Scoops, Horsebox, Cabbagehead gombeen come to mine spoken in a Kerry accent when ever i hear of him of he’s family.
Just dont look and hopefully he’ll go away fall off the face of the earth at some stage…..earth is flat isnt it :P
Gobshtie ! Apparently spelling it correctly is offensive…….
@Catherine Mc: If he was a druggy, an addict or an alcoholic, would we call him the same???
I can’t understand why polling for Independents was down 8% in last weekends survey. Just can’t get my head around it ….
Complete gombeen
How can we get rid of this muppet? Seriously he clearly has mental issues
@Daithi Mac An TSionnaigh: any drunken pilots care to help us out here??
I read in the Sunday Times last year that the Healy Raes came up to protest at an Allsop auction and ended up buying a few properties (a fact they later had to reveal as part of TD asset disclosures). Sums them up really. They are cleverer than those that vote for them.
the muck spreader from kerry everytime he opens his mouth sh@te comes out just like his brother well kerry like them so we gotta hear their b@ll#$k, fianna fail fine geal in all but name
If you put a plastic Jesus on your dashboard sure wont the lord himself guide your drunken hand?
@Gus Sheridan: Maybe we could get Ezekial to do a pick up and drop off Chariot service .
@Gus Sheridan: That’s way below his pay grade, Padre Pio is the man in that department.
Going by those comments, I bet no-one in his family has died as a result of drink driving…. shame on him…
I hate to say it, but if a pilot had drink on him I’d let Danny Healy Rae get on that plane – but there’s no way I would. Idiot.
Is there anything this idiot won’t say to encourage people drink and drive but to then say sure have a few you be grand flying that plane your not only risking your life but the hundreds of passengers who have decided to trust you not to take drugs or drink ffs he really is an idiot
Healy Rae is a complete and utter Gobsh#te of the highest order! It baffles me as to who in their right mind could vote for such a Moron!
What a complete imbecile and as someone said further down the comments, probably the reason kerryman jokes are still around.
Drink driving culture is alive and largely given a blind eye in rural towns.
My brother lives in Kerry and I have lived in both limerick and Galway and have seen it.
Local gardai while off duty, have sat drinking until after 3am with locals and knew some of them would drive the couple of mile home.
But Healy-Rae champions this as a right people should have!! Disgusting.
Sure if ya left your car at home and walked home after a few scoops you could be knocked down
and killed on a dark country road, be it Kerry or anywhere else.
Don’t listen to this useless, disrespectful,has been, attention seeker. He fell and hit his head on something some time ago. Mad Kerry people, don’t vote for a gombeen like this again
Why the f**k is this dude even getting any airtime? What an A grade sloppy dope.
This guy is a complete idiot, let’s see when a drunk driver kills one of his family! Then we will see a turn around in his views. The worst part is that he is a so called pillar of Irish society! A trusted political face of Kerry???
@Peter Cavey: Agreed. 100%. He is a Clown to himself and to the good people of Kerry
Any Kamikazi pilots in Kerry, please step forward, your country needs you, now.
‘If a pilot had two or three glasses to drink I’d still get on the plane’ and that could be milk, water or mineral? Did he mean beer, wine, spirits or porter?
Could be worse I suppose?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national/more-airline-pilots-testing-positive-for-drug-use/EtEcb0AIqp9mR4SY8QuxLL/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/busted-for-heroin-when-pilots-fly-high
I think we all hope Danny gets on a plane with a pilot after a few drinks!
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