Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Healy-Rae family and the Sinn Féin Party have been very supportive of each other down through the years. More importantly, the Healy-Rae family are my friends. I first met Jackie Healy-Rae sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. That was at a time when Robert Beasley, the Sinn Féin county councillor for Kerry, had to emigrate because of the circumstances. We had to find a replacement on Kerry County Council. We were seeking support for a co-option of Gerry Walsh to take that seat. The only person we could trust in the political establishment in Kerry County Council was Jackie Healy-Rae. He was the whip for the Fianna Fáil party at the time. I met him and asked him would he support Gerry Walsh taking his seat. He told me "my boy, I guarantee that he is a county councillor now". That was even before he went onto the county council. I had tremendous respect for and trust in Jackie Healy-Rae from that day on. That carries on to this day with Danny and Michael and Maura, Jackie junior and Johnny.

The Healy-Rae family has a great legacy in many areas. I had a great conversation with Johnny Healy-Rae after the local elections in Killarney. We were talking about the next presidential election. I suggested that he might be a candidate. He stated that "if I am allowed to cut silage in the 300 acres around Áras an Uachtaráin, I certainly will go for it". As the Kerry supporters and the Healy-Rae supporters and their extended family came in here today, my good friend, Deputy Gerry Adams, looked up and stated "thy Kingdom come". He is a wise man.

Jackie had a tremendous career. He played hurling for Kilgarvan and earned three county championship medals. He won two of them on the field against Kilmoyley in 1956 and 1958. He was a corner forward or a full forward. In those days, those of us who watched, played or supported hurling witnessed an awful lot of ground hurling. Jackie had a fantastic reputation as a corner forward for finding the back of the net with ground hurling while never damaging one daisy. He pulled lovely and high. He was able to take his man out of it and make sure the ball went to its destination as well.

I remember the first time Jackie was elected as a Deputy in 1997. I missed out at that time. Michael reminded me of this last night when we were talking about it. We were in the count centre.

It was as though there was an ozone layer around Sinn Féin, particularly around me. All the press was there but the other political parties were miles away. They were very shy of the camera. However, the first man up to shake my hand was Jackie Healy-Rae. He had no problem with standing in front of the camera. That is another great memory I have of him.

I remember when Peg the mare went missing. It was international news, not national news. Peg was Jackie's favourite mare and he was broken-hearted. At the time, like today, there was a shortage of gardaí in Kerry and they could not find the mare. Jackie rang me and said "Martin boy, my poor mare has gone missing. Is there any chance you would search up around north Kerry to see if you would be able to find my poor mare?" Thankfully at the end of the day the mare turned up. I do not know where it was or who had it, but it turned up.

Another great memory I have of Jackie is from my time on Kerry County Council. Jackie was a Deputy. The tuna fishermen off the coast of Ireland had been prohibited from drift-netting. Kerry County Council decided to send a deputation to meet the then Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Frank Fahey, and officials from the Department. We hoped to talk a bit of common sense into them and argue that the livelihood of Irish fishermen drift-netting for tuna should not be jeopardised by prohibition. We arrived here and went into the office to meet the Minister and his officials. We were all making the very strong case that it was an awful miscarriage of justice for fishermen to be prevented from fishing for tuna. Jackie had a big ball in his pocket. He put his hand in and pulled out a net. I looked at the net and I looked at the officials. They looked at it and were overwhelmed with examining the detail. Anybody who knows anything about fishing would know that the mesh size for a tuna net is about nine inches. The mesh size here was about four inches. Furthermore, it was a monofilament salmon net and as such it was illegal. Jackie brought that into that meeting. It says a lot about the officials and the Minister that they did not have a clue what it was. Jackie knew what it was.

The legacy Jackie has left includes three county councillors, namely, young Jackie, Johnny and Maura. They are fantastic people who got huge votes in the last election. Deputies Michael and Danny Healy-Rae are my friends and fellow Deputies representing Kerry. The one thing they all have is the common touch. They represent the common ordinary people of the country. They are not in a bubble. Ireland is a lot more than what is inside the Red Cow roundabout. Jackie Healy-Rae was a testament to their politics, the politics for the common man and woman. They are fantastic people.

As long as I live I will never forget a day when John O’Donoghue was sitting where the Ceann Comhairle is sitting now. It was a fairly eventful day. There were three or four breaks because of the arguments that broke out. Jackie stood up and said that while the Ceann Comhairle was up there, he would look after Bonane, Sneem, Caherdaniel and Reenard. He assured the Ceann Comhairle that he would make sure the people of south Kerry were well looked after while he was in Dublin. That says it all.

I wish Jackie's family the best and I thank them for coming here today. They are continuing a fantastic legacy, which was started by Jackie Healy-Rae.

See this speech in context