“Who amongst us can say we’ve done nothing wrong? Who amongst us is able to say that he had done something that was worse than we ever have?” That was the response of Danny Healy-Rae to the sacking of Barry Cowen as Minister for Agriculture.
Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae reacted to yesterday evening’s development, expressing his “great disappointment” over the matter.
Also Read: Barry Cowen removed as Minister for Agriculture“He did something wrong, but he apologised and acknowledged it. I accepted this apology. Removing him was very harsh; it was too harsh,” deputy Healy-Rae said.
‘I knew there was going to be trouble’
“It is my view that we have had members of the Dáil in the past do terrible things and never suffered a penalty like this.”
Deputy Healy-Rae said he “knew there was going to be trouble” when he heard that the Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin said that “more clarity was needed on the issue of Cowen’s drink driving offence”.
“Yesterday morning [Tuesday, July 14] I just knew it in myself what was going to happen. There were more politicians speaking up about it. It seemed like they would never stop asking for clarity, for more questioning of Cowen,” Healy-Rae said.
I cannot express enough that we have lost the possibility of a good minister. We needed him.
“Farmers are torn and worn and we had some hope with Cowen. He was bringing attention to issues that needed to be addressed, but that didn’t seem to matter in the end.
‘Who even runs the country?’
“Who even runs the country? Is it the press or the government? We all have questions following what has happened and these are mine,” according to deputy Healy-Rae.
“The agenda of many media outlets has been their own agenda – a lot of personal stuff. The agenda of the people – the ordinary person on the ground who is suffering the burdens in rural Ireland – were far from the agenda of the press.
“Dáil Éireann is being run by certain media outlets.”
Deputy Healy-Rae said it is “tiring” to have to worry about who the next minister will be, and whether they can get the job done.
Concluding, he said: “What I am hoping for right now is that they are from rural Ireland at the very, very least. Please God they have some understanding of rural Ireland and what problems farmers are facing.”