I hear that Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae has asked if fairies are to blame for bad road conditions around Killarney.

Speaking on Newstalk this week about the state of a road outside Killarney, the TD said: “Tradition told us that you must not touch fairy forts – or lioses, which they are also called.

“I was only asking the question if it was fairies at work [that caused the dip in the road] or what was it? The road needs to be fixed.

“If I was asked to knock a fairy fort I’d starve of the hunger rather than knock it.”

Fairy forts and the land, eh?