Man who pleaded guilty to election fraud worked for Healy-Rae owned company, senator claims

Gardaí have been asked to investigate a voter fraud case in Kerry involving a man who is claimed to be an employee of a Healy-Rae owned company, the Seanad heard yesterday.

On July 4, David Moriarty, 29, of Kilmackerin, Cahersiveen, avoided a conviction for election fraud after he cast a vote in the local elections in June 2024 using a polling card that was not in his name.

Fine Gael senator Mike Kennelly told the Seanad yesterday that Mr Moriarty was employed by the Healy-Rae Plant Hire firm in Kenmare – but this detail was not provided to the court.

Independent Danny Healy Rae TD at Leinster House. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photo

The company was previously run by Independent TD for Kerry Danny Healy-Rae; he resigned in March last year, after which his son, local councillor Johnny Healy-Rae, took over. When contacted by the Irish Daily Mail, Danny Healy-Rae said he had ‘no comment in the world’ to make. Johnny Healy-Rae did not respond to requests for comment either.

Local court reports noted that no enquiries were made by gardaí regarding the involvement of other parties, with local Sergeant Chris Manton saying the man had not been questioned about that matter.

John (Johnny )Healy-Rae, Danny Healy-Rae and Michael Healy-Rae and Jackie Healy-Rae Jnr. Pic: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

The judge, however, questioned where Mr Moriarty had obtained the polling card. Solicitor Brendan Ahern, who represented Mr Moriarty, said: ‘He was given [it] by somebody and asked to vote for that candidate and he did so.’ Mr Ahern said he did not want to reveal the name in court but he had provided it to the gardaí.

Last week, Senator Kennelly, a former councillor in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, raised the matter in the Seanad chamber. Under Seanad privilege, he said: ‘A Cahersiveen man had avoided a conviction for election fraud after he cast a vote in the local election in June 2024 using a polling card that was not in his name.

‘This polling card was registered to an address in Killarney and had been in a tractor, along with several others, and that one was missing from the tractor.’ He said it was ‘quite extraordinary’ to learn that in a case where a guilty plea was made by the accused to the serious charge of voter fraud, the plea went without a conviction. He also said a ‘thorough investigation’ into the facts of the incident was not conducted.

Politician Michael Healy Rae TD, with his brother Kerry County Councillor Danny Healy Rae TD. Pic: RollingNews.ie

‘It has made a mockery of our democracy’ he added. Mr Kennelly continued: ‘It appears at no time was the accused asked who had requested or organised for him to cast a vote under another person’s identity. ‘It is also emerging that gardaí incorrectly told the journalists covering the court that no case was being heard and therefore no attendance by the journalists was warranted.

‘This situation has the effect of undermining people’s faith in democracy and our democratic institutions,’ he said.

‘At a time when democracy is being challenged throughout the world, it is totally unacceptable.’ Mr Kennelly has called on the Department of Justice, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, the Electoral Commission and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the case.

Mr Kennelly returned to the matter again in the Seanad yesterday. He said it was ‘extraordinary to learn, as every dog and divil in Kerry knows’, that the defendant works for the Healy-Rae Plant Hire company.

Mr Kennelly went on: ‘He was cited in court as a farmer and a contractor, but his employer, the Healy-Rae firm, was unusually not identified, even though he has worked for it for years.’

The plant hire company is now officially run by Johnny HealyRae. Danny Healy-Rae resigned on March 1, 2024, according to company records. Danny Healy-Rae was listed as both director and secretary of the firm, and was replaced by Johnny Healy-Rae as director, while Caroline Healy-Rae – Johnny’s wife – was named as secretary. In last June’s local elections, Johnny Healy-Rae retained his seat on Kerry County Council in the Kenmare electoral area.

Danny Healy-Rae and Michael Healy-Rae. Pic: Alan Rowlette/RollingNews.ie

Senator Kennelly said there was a need for ‘clarity’ as to how the case was ‘quietly hushed up’. He told the Seanad: ‘It has made a mockery of our democracy. There have been no answers as to how this man got the polling card before he drove 40 miles from his home to vote in another town.

‘He did not acquire it himself, the court was told, so who exactly gave it to him? ‘The electors of Kerry, and indeed the rest of the country, deserve to know.’

Mr Kennelly also raised another case in Kerry which centres on ‘potential criminal wrongdoing’ in the form of irregular supplementary voter registration.

The case centres on allegations that, ahead of the May 2019 local elections, a garda officer in the Killarney electoral area stamped hundreds of supplementary voter registration forms without the applicants being physically present, which is a legal requirement.

Mr Kennelly said: ‘An Garda Síochána launched a formal investigation led by a superintendent from outside Kerry and a file was prepared.

‘As of April 2024, GSOC forwarded a file to the DPP, with a decision still pending. ‘This is over six years ago. When will we see this case brought to a conclusion?’ He said illegal voter fraud ‘strikes at the very heart of our democracy’, adding: ‘When individuals or groups manipulate electoral rules or cast votes unlawfully, they undermine public trust in the fairness and legitimacy of our elections.

Danny Healy-Rae. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photo

‘Every fraudulent vote cancels out the voice of a lawful voter. ‘The fallout from these cases will massively impact people who want to get elected to represent their electoral areas without fear of any undercurrent that does not reflect a level playing ground when it comes to these irregularities being committed.’

Mr Kennelly noted that he won a seat in the 2014 local elections in Listowel by two votes. ‘So to say, as was said in the court that day, that this does not really affect the results is totally wrong,’ he said.

‘I call on the Minister of State to clean up the whole voting process, to review the cases I have mentioned and to make sure that everything possible is done to eradicate this kind of behaviour.’

The Mail also contacted Mr Moriarty about the case, but had received no response from him at the time of going to press.