TAOISEACH Micheál Martin gave an ultimatum to Michael Healy-Rae that a private ‘two-for-one’ deal he and his brother Danny agreed in support of the Government would have to be upheld before the Kerry TD quit the Coalition.

The Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Taoiseach’s chief of staff, Deirdre Gillane, contacted Michael Healy-Rae on Monday night when it became apparent Danny was going to vote against the Government in the no-confidence motion tabled by Sinn Féin in the Dáil the following day.

The MoS has also learned that Tánaiste Simon Harris was not informed in advanceabout the Taoiseach’s hardline approach, which a senior Fine Gael source said ‘clearly backfired’ on Mr Martin, plunging him into another leadership crisis.

During the call, Ms Gillane told the Kerry TD her boss was ‘adamant’ the ‘two-for-one’ deal would have to be upheld.

Sources in the Regional Group of Independents also said Mr Healy-Rae and the group’s de facto leader, Michael Lowry, were told the Taoiseach would not ‘wear’ Danny’s defection.

It is understood Mr Martin wanted to pressurise Michael into convincing his brother not to vote against the Government, fearing a backlash from his backbenchers if Danny broke ranks.

Michael Healy-Rae has publicly claimed he quit the Coalition because of the Government’s response to the fuel crisis, which sparked nationwide protests last week.

In an emotional speech in the Dáil, the Kerry TD claimed the sight of grown men crying over the cost of diesel left him with no choice but to leave the Government.

Several senior Coalition sources have given a very different version of events and said Mr Healy-Rae was left with no choice other than to resign after he came under pressure to uphold a verbal agreement he and his brother Danny made when they agreed to join the Coalition.

Under this deal, the sibling TDs assured the Taoiseach and Tánaiste they were getting the full support of the Healy-Rae political machine in return for Michael being given a junior minister position in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

A source with knowledge of the verbal agreement struck with the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders, that few in the Coalition knew existed, told the MoS: ‘They did that thing where they spit on the hand and shake hands.’

They said the Healy-Raes told the Taoiseach: ‘In return for that, you’re getting two votes.’

The source added: ‘In fairness to Micheál Martin, they had committed to bringing two votes.

‘They said they were the fourth leg [of government, alongside Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Group of Independents.’

Yesterday, senior figures across the Coalition criticised Mr Martin’s brinkmanship, which resulted in the loss of two Coalition seats and sparked renewed internal criticism of his leadership. 

A statement issued on Wednesday by Fianna Fáil’s three youngest TDs starkly warned the social contract is ‘strained at breaking point’.

A Cabinet source told the MoS: ‘This is just an enforced loss of a minister and a vote in the Dáil, and the Coalition will come to rue this move as things get tighter and tighter. It’s early in the cycle [of government] to be losing TDs.’

Sources also said the Taoiseach’s ultimatum to Michael Healy-Rae has not gone down well with the remaining Government-supporting TDs. 

It is understood the Kerry TD spoke to Michael Lowry to brief the veteran Tipperary North TD about his conversation with Ms Gillane.

A source said Mr Healy-Rae told Mr Lowry: ‘I’ve never been sacked from a job in my life, so I’ll be resigning.’

Two members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party independently told the MoS that Mr Martin briefed them early last week that both Healy-Raes would have to support the Government in the no-confidence vote.

On Sunday, the day before Ms Gillane delivered the ultimatum to Michael Healy-Rae on behalf of the Taoiseach, the Kerry TD posted a video in which he confirmed he would support the Government.

Instead, he dramatically resigned in the Dáil chamber on Tuesday, before strongly criticising the Taoiseach and voting no confidence alongside his brother.

The fallout has worsened deteriorating relations between the two main Government parties.

Fine Gael figures confirmed they were not involved in efforts to secure both Healy-Rae votes and were not briefed on a strategy that culminated in the removal of the Coalition’s ‘fourth leg’.

A senior Fine Gael figure told the MoS: ‘If you were being really, really technical about it and factual, the deal was always two [Healy-Rae] votes for one ministry. That was it, the Healy Raes said: “We’re bringing two votes.”

‘But none of this was done in writing, even the deal with Lowry.’

Fine Gael figures said Mr Martin should have recognised the ‘realpolitik’ surrounding the intense pressure the Healy-Raes, themselves agricultural contractors, were coming under from their political base over the fuel crisis.

A source noted: ‘If, on a very difficult issue for the country, Danny Healy-Rae goes overboard, are you really going to say: “Well, the best way to de-escalate this situation is to get rid of a minister?”

‘You’re not going to do that, for I would have believed, you’re going to needlessly reduce your majority.’

A Fine Gael party source said: ‘Michael Healy-Rae never sought to meet Simon Harris on it [the vote and position of his brother], but we were since unofficially informed that somebody in the Taoiseach’s operation approached the Independents and said: “The deal is Danny and Michael must both vote for the Government, because that’s the place in which they got the ministry.”

‘However, in fairness to Michael Lowry, who was brought into all this, I think he believed that wasn’t going to be necessarily enforced, but they [Fianna Fáil] were trying. They were applying a bit of pressure to the Healy-Raes.’

There are growing fears within the Coalition that the administration will not survive its full term.

One Fine Gael TD said: ‘We will need every vote we can get in the coming months. Michael Healy-Rae was a good minister and he wanted to support the Government. He’s not his brother’s keeper, and nobody believed that verbal deal would be enforced.

‘I thought it was very interesting when Michael Healy-Rae stood up in the Dáil, he could have attacked the leadership of the Government, he could have attacked the leader of Fine Gael but he chose to attack the leader of the country, Micheál Martin. In all his comments, you know, outside the gates [of Leinster House], he talked about the condescending speech of the Taoiseach [in response to the protests].’

One Regional Independent source familiar with the efforts to convince Danny Healy-Rae not to vote against the Government told the MoS: ‘It became clear Danny can’t abide Micheál Martin. He repeatedly said the people who vote for him tell him that Micheál Martin is a “hate figure” for them.’

However, the source stressed Michael Healy-Rae’s support was ‘solid as a rock’ before he was presented with the ultimatum.

‘It was widely assumed in Government that Danny would go and Michael would vote confidence. That would be it, common sense would prevail.

'I can only guess that the Taoiseach thought they would come back into line, both of them, but this displays a large blind spot when it comes to human nature, and politics,’ they said.

Despite Mr Martin’s representatives saying the Taoiseach could not tolerate a situation where one Healy-Rae voted against the Government, Danny had done so before on previous occasions on contentious matters that were also difficult for Fianna Fáil TDs to support.

Several Fianna Fáil TDs who attended the five-hour parliamentary party meeting in Leinster House the day before Michael’s resignation said the Healy-Raes were barely mentioned, bar a light-hearted reference from Kerry TD Michael Cahill.

Contacted by the MoS, Michael Healy-Rae respectfully declined to comment. The Taoiseach’s office was also contacted for comment. A Government Information Service spokeswoman said: ‘We won’t be commenting’.