MICHAEL HEALY-RAE’s trip to the passport office in Dublin today was a costly one, as he came outside to find his bike had been stolen.

In a Twitter post earlier, Healy-Rae had said he was “looking for” the person responsible and “I will find you and it will be a sorry day for you that you ever decided to mess with me and my property”.

Source: Michael Healy-Rae/Twitter

The irate Kerry TD told TheJournal.ie this afternoon that it was an “outrageous” thing to happen and the work of “dirty, rotten” thieves.

Regrettably, he said that he had left the bike – which he uses regularly to get around the city – right outside the door of the passport office on Lower Mount Street unlocked.

“I left the chain and lock off it,” the TD said. “I was stupid I know. But I was rushing to get back to the Dáil for meetings.”

Healy-Rae said he wasn’t holding out much hope of the culprits being tracked down but still reported the matter to gardaí.

“The reason I reported is because I’m always standing up in the Dáil and criticising because the crime stats are wrong,” he said. “A lot of people are victims of crime but don’t report it, particularly in rural areas. You should let the gardaí know what happened to you.”

Healy-Rae said he had left the bike outside the passport office for a matter of moments. Source: RollingNews.ie

He recalled conducting a survey in his local constituency where he called on eight people he knew had been victims of crime, but only three had reported it.

Healy-Rae said: “If we’re going to be calling for garda resources, we need to be reporting these things.”

And, does he hold out hope of getting the bike back?

“Dublin is a big place, but you never know,” he said. “I may even have it back by tonight, if I’m lucky. But I doubt it.”

With reporting from Daragh Brophy