Rural independent general election candidate Danny Healy-Rae has apologised for remarks he made yesterday, Sunday, February 9, during an election count.
The candidate – who looks set to retain his seat in the Kerry constituency, and is currently ranked in third place behind the already elected pair of Michael Healy-Rae and Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly – said:
“If my comments offended anyone, I want to sincerely apologise for that.
Obviously I care about the planet as much as the people in it; the point I was trying to get across is, as much as we must mind the planet, we must be fair to the people.
“Again I apologise and withdraw these remarks,” Healy-Rae’s statement concluded.
Speaking to Virgin Media News yesterday, the incumbent TD for Kerry said: “To hell with the planet and the fellows that say we must save the planet and forget about the people. I’m not one of those people.
“I make no apologies to anyone, anywhere, for that,” Healy-Rae said at the time.
General Election 2020 update
As things currently stand, at the time of writing, 102 out of 160 seats have been filled with Sinn Féin taking the lion’s share of these with 36 seats so far.
Social Democrats and Solidarity People Before Profit both have three seats, Labour has two seats and Aontú has a single seat so far.