24 Facts About Jackie Healy-Rae

John Patrick Healy, known as Jackie Healy-Rae, was an Irish Independent politician who served as a Teachta Dala for the Kerry South constituency from 1997 to 2011.

Jackie Healy-Rae was educated at the local National School in Kilgarvan.

Jackie Healy-Rae emigrated to the United States in 1953 but soon returned to Ireland.

Jackie Healy-Rae played for the local hurling and Gaelic football teams in Kilgarvan, where he won two senior county hurling titles with the club in 1956 and 1958.

Jackie Healy-Rae was a saxophone player with the Kilgarvan Dance Band.

Jackie Healy-Rae was married to Julie Healy, but the couple separated in 1977.

Jackie Healy-Rae was appointed to a paid position on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal in 2007.

Jackie Healy-Rae was re-appointed, for three further years, by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern on 11 November 2010.

Jackie Healy-Rae headed several Fianna Fail by-election campaigns, most notably the election of John O'Leary to the Dail in 1966.

Jackie Healy-Rae later lent his services to several other Fianna Fail election campaigns in County Limerick, County Cork and County Galway.

In 1973, Jackie Healy-Rae was first co-opted to Kerry County Council as a Fianna Fail member, following the death of sitting councillor Michael Doherty.

Jackie Healy-Rae was elected to the council in his own right in 1974 and re-elected at every subsequent election.

Jackie Healy-Rae served on the council for 30 years, until he resigned his seat because of the abolition of the dual mandate in 2003.

Jackie Healy-Rae broke from Fianna Fail in controversial circumstances prior to the 1997 general election.

However, Jackie Healy-Rae took a seat and denied Fianna Fail the chance of taking a second seat in the constituency.

Jackie Healy-Rae was one of four Independent TDs who supported the government throughout its five-year term and rejected the opposition Fine Gael.

Jackie Healy-Rae contested the 2002 general election and although his seat looked in doubt at some stages of the campaign and he received only the fourth-highest number of first-preference votes, he was narrowly re-elected, winning the third seat.

Jackie Healy-Rae got up and left during 25pc of the meetings of the committee leaving the vice-chairman, Charlie O'Connor, to oversee the meetings and absented himself entirely from a further 25pc of meetings, despite a convention that chairmen appointed by the government should fully chair all meetings.

Jackie Healy-Rae was again re-elected to the Dail at the 2007 general election and signed a confidence and supply deal with Fianna Fail.

Jackie Healy-Rae has been criticised for not making the details of the deal public and for supporting the government over highly controversial cutbacks.

Jackie Healy-Rae was confronted publicly by members of the Kerry Public Sector Workers Alliance about his continual support for cutbacks and for the Irish bank bailout.

Jackie Healy-Rae said he was powerless as he had only one vote and that they "should talk to the Green Party that are making the big changes".

On 26 June 2008, Jackie Healy-Rae announced that he intended to retire at the next general election.

Jackie Healy-Rae died on 5 December 2014, at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee after a long illness.