Healy Raes spotted in Cork - secret talks with Micheál Martin?
Their van turned some heads up on Bandon Road - and was parked up for a couple of days
A bit of the Kingdom in the Rebel City
Residents along one of Cork's best known roads were surprised to see a high-profile visitor from the Kingdom this week.
A van belonging to Michael Healy-Rae - with the face of the man himself plastered on the side - was parked by the Lough Credit Union on the Bandon Road for a couple of days.
And locals were abuzz with possible explanations - including theories that Deputy Healy-Rae was in town for talks with Micheál Martin about a possible role in a new Government or just that the high-profile independent had heard about the Jackie Deluxe burger at nearby Lennox's chipper and had to check it out for himself.
Musician Adrian O'Mahony, who lives in the area, said the van was certainly getting a lot of attention in the locality.
"It was around for a couple of days, there were loads of people taking pictures. I don't know if there are Healy-Rae kids in UCC or what, but you couldn't miss it," Adrian told CorkBeo.
"Where it was parked, you have offices for the local Labour and Fine Gael politicians right next to it, so maybe there were talks going on? It was funny to see, anyhow".
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There was one clue for locals who looked closely enough - the van has a "Kev Rae" tag that could mean it was being used by Kevin Healy-Rae - who DJs in pubs and clubs as "DJ Kev Rae".
The musical Healy-Rae may have been in town to perform at one of the RAG week events.
His dad Michael Healy-Rae could have tagged along to visit his relatives. A few years ago, for the Late Late Show, the independent TD was one a range of celebrities who took DNA tests to examine their origins.
And to his great shock, it turned out that he had more Cork genes in his make-up than Kerry. As host Ryan Tubridy slagged Kerry's most high-profile politician about his Rebel roots, Healy-Rae lamented; "I'm from Cork? How much more worse can this get?"