Irish Dynastic Family Parties in Parliament Bar in Tribute to Late Patriarch

Members of the Healy-Rae family, one of Ireland’s best-known political dynasties, sang folk songs and raised their glasses on June 26 in a bar inside parliament buildings in memory of Independent politician Jackie Healy-Rae, who died in 2014.

Jackie Healy-Rae represented Kerry South in Ireland’s parliament, the Dáil, from 1997 until his retirement in 2011. This video shows several members of the Healy-Rae family singing The Rose of Tralee, a folk song from their native County Kerry, inside the Dáil bar.

According to Irish media, Jackie’s son Michael Healy-Rae, who took his father’s seat in parliament following elections in 2011, said the late tributes were organized as no expressions of sympathy were heard in the Dáil at the time of Jackie’s death in 2014.

He said he believed it was fitting time to pay tribute to his father, as three of Jackie’s grandchildren had just been elected to the Kerry County Council in recent elections, including Michael’s son, also named Jackie Healy-Rae, according to the Irish Times. Credit: Shane McAuliffe via Storyful