In The New Hot Press: Michael Healy-Rae Has Plenty To Get Off His Chest...

In an exclusive interview, Kerry politician Michael Healy-Rae discusses everything from his religious beliefs, through to God and the weather, and condoms and sex before marriage. He also doffs his cap to Donald Trump and tells how his mother predicted all the way back in 1988 that Donald J. Trump would end up “ruling the world”.

Healy-Rea also discusses his disdain for the Dublin media, admitting he’s sick of being depicted as an eejit from Kerry…. He also has some strong comments to make, looking back at the Celebrities Go Wild phone-in controversy…

In an interview that is packed with surprise, conducted by Hot Press’ senior editor Jason O’Toole, Michael Healy-Rae reveals more than his fair share of political insights, also opening up about his battle with dyslexia…

On overcoming dyslexia : “It was an awful problem. There was no such thing as diagnosing what was wrong with a person at that time. So nobody knew what was wrong with me. My mother took me to see a nun and she had a special gift for teaching people."

On his mother predicting in 1988 that Donald J. Trump would be President of America: “She said, ‘You watch him'. And she never mentioned politics. All she said was, ‘Watch him. He could finish up running the world yet!’ The man’s name was Donald J. Trump!”

On why we need someone like Donald Trump in Irish politics: “He said that business was being overrun by bureaucracy and nonsense. Now here in Ireland, bureaucracy and nonsense are out of control monsters. The Health and Safety Authority is an out of control monster. The RSA is an out of control monster. What we need is somebody to clip their wings. Now Trump is after doing it in America."

On his disdain for the Dublin media: “Look, there are an awful lot of nice people in Dublin. But there are people in the media in Dublin who think that the world stops at the Red Cow Roundabout.” He adds,”… if the best they can come out with is calling us names, calling us really dirty, insulting horrible things: they’re letting down themselves.”

On his brother Danny’s controversial drinking-driving permit proposal: “The long and the short of it is: that’s not ever going to happen, right? To be talking about changing the limits in an upward direction – that will not happen, so there’s no point."

On marijuana for medicinal purposes: “I’m fine with it for medicinal purposes. On a serious note, there’s a lot of people who have medical problems and who require different types of marijuana purely for medicinal purposes.”

Michael on God… and the weather: “I believe that God is in charge of the world. For me to say that God is in charge of the weather, it’s underestimating God – because God is in charge of everything.”

Read the full Hot Press Interview in the new issue, which is on racks across Ireland from May 11. You can also Buy 41-08: Guns N'Roses Special direct from hotpress.com, or download the iOS app for iPad.