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Government urged to keep number 13 from Irish car registrations next year

Healy-Rae concerned that superstition will hit sales

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, February 5, 2012, 9:59 AM

Updated Sunday, February 5, 2012, 9:59 AM

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Kerry politician Michael Healy-Rae is urging the government to keep the number 13 from Irish car registrations next year, fearing the superstitious number will deter people from buying cars.

Controversial Kerry politician Michael Healy-Rae has called on the Irish government to introduce a new car registration policy next year – to avoid any use of the number 13.

Irish cars now carry the year of registration on their licence plate but independent deputy Healy-Rae is concerned superstition will hit car sales next year.

He believes many potential car buyers will wait a year rather than purchase a new car with 13 on its registration plate.

“There’s people now who, we’ll say, always change their cars every two, three or four years,” Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie.

“Take you, for instance - you might be one of these men who change their car every three years, and 2013 is your year to change.

“People like you are after going to the garages and saying they’ll wait until the next year before replacing their cars, simply because they do not want to drive cars carrying a number which is often thought to be unlucky.”

Healy-Rae told the website that car dealers had already approached him to raise their concerns.

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gobdawpaddy | Feb 07, 2012, 02:55 AM EST

Just read an article in one of today's Irish newspapers that may clarify how the Healy-Rae's get elected. Apparentlty the local catholic church in Kilgarvan is trying to sell their old presbytery and several acres of land. The local GAA club have made an offer of EUR 205,000, but the church has received a higher bid from an Irish-American who has been described locally as 'a foreigner'(Amish country come to mind?). The Catholic Church has been warned it can expect scenes reminiscent of John B Keane’s The Field if it sells a village property in Kerry to anyone other than the local GAA club. The chairman of the local GAA club told a radio station "Do you remember the famous play The Field? That’s what it’s coming to here. I’ll say no more." The Field is a John B Keane play, in which a visiting American businessman was slain by a local father and son because he planned to purchase a parcel of land they believed they had a right to acquire. All that's missing from this (2012) story are the pitchforks and lamps in the hands of the locals as they descend from the mountains. This is the mindset of the people that vote for the circus act that I mentioned in my previous post.

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gobdawpaddy | Feb 05, 2012, 03:52 PM EST

Saw this guy 'speak' in the Irish parliament during the week. He, like his father before him, belongs in a circus act. This is what the people of South Kerry think is representative of them?

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