Kildare TD hits back at Danny Healy Rae's claims that he isn't from real rural Ireland

Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon has hit back at claims from controversial Kerry TD Danny Healy Rae that he is not from a rural part of Ireland.

The eccentric Independent TD made the claims yesterday in Dáil Éireann during a sitting of the Oireachtas, stating that he would like to show the South Kildare representative a part of 'real rural Ireland' and take him on a tour of the Ring of Kerry.

Mr Heydon, who was reared on a farm outside Kilcullen and also served as the Chairman of the Fine Gael Agricultural Committe for five years, hit back at Healy Rae's assumptions, stating on Twitter; "Obviously being chairman of the Fine Gael Agricultural Committee for 5 years, being a member of the Dáil joint committee on rural affairs for 2 years, being a farmer who lives in a rural part of south Kildare doesn't count at all, at all...

https://twitter.com/martinheydonfg/status/939187795251384320

Healy Rae has consistently courted controversy down through the years at Leinster House. He claimed last year that there was no such thing as climate change and that God had the ultimate power over the weather, while also adopting pro-life and anti same-sex marriage stances.