Danny just doesn’t get it – Kerry needs a population injection – Brassil

Kerry Fianna Fáil TD, John Brassil has hit out at constituency colleague, Danny Healy Rae for his short sighted reaction to the idea of people from Dublin moving to Kerry.

“Sometimes Danny is just being Danny, but this takes the biscuit. At what stage will Danny realise that his reactionary, short sighted and insular ideas are damaging to our county?

“Kerry, in particular South West Kerry, is facing a population time bomb. The decline in population in South West Kerry from 2011 to 2016 was nearly 4% or 1503 people.

“Whether Danny likes it not, we need more people living in the county, and in particular in the South West of the county.

“He may have some narrow opinions on who is entitled to live in Kerry, but I care about the future of Kerry, and anyone who decides to move to the county and contribute to its social and economic prosperity is welcome in my book.

“One of the worse things about Danny’s ignorant comments is the fact that he completely ignores the reality that over the past 50 or more years thousands of Kerry people have made Dublin their home, and the people of Dublin welcomed them.

“Of course, we need to build more houses in the county. That’s a given. However, there is greater scope for house building of the levels needed in Kerry than in Dublin.

“More people moving to Kerry will mean more children for our schools ensuring that they stay open and it means more people committed to setting up businesses to employ local people.

“If Danny doesn’t want to think about the future of our country, that’s fine. However, the rest of us need to be open to new ideas to secure our rural villages and towns. That’s my job as a TD,” concluded Brassil.