Peter Casey (66): Irish entrepreneur, former Rank Xerox Asian Sales Manager
of the Year, CEO of Claddagh Resources recruitment company, former
panellist on Dragons’ Den, candidate for Irish President in 2018 – one of
three Dragons, coming second after attacking travellers, and in 2019
and 2024 for the European Parliament in Midlands-North-West; and
racist fool.
During his 2019 Presidency campaign Casey described Irish
Travellers as “basically people camping in someone else’s land”
who are “not paying their fair share of taxes in society”. He later
stated, “there is not a racist bone in my body”. He described
immigration as “a ticking time bomb” though immigration was
polling at around 1% as the issue of most importance for people. He
also claimed Ireland was a “welfare-dependent state” which had led
to a “sense of entitlement that’s become unaffordable”.
After the election, Casey indicated that he planned to join Fianna Fáil
and run for one of the seats in Donegal where he mostly lived, and “if
they don’t want me, I’ll form a new party and I’ll call it the new Fianna Fáil”.
In the 2019 European Parliament election, which he fought as an
independent, he was filmed claiming “The face of Ireland is changing.
People say ‘you’re racist’. Of course I’m racist, I’m a very proud Irish man”, and
later that he made “no apologies” for describing himself as a racist. He finished
fifth in a four-seat constituency.
Saoirse McHugh called him a “clown” during a TV debate.
In the 2020 general election he got 213 first preference votes in Dublin West and 1,142 first
preference in Donegal.
In 2023 The Labour Court heard claims by one of his employees, who won his case, that
Casey was abusive and shouting at him and “almost violent” at an appraisal meeting in 2021
where he was fired “on the spot”. Casey strongly denied the allegation.
In the 2024 European Parliament election, he campaigned under the Twitter handle “Anyone
who wants to come and live in Ireland should understand that Ireland is a proud Christian
nation and if you don’t like that,don’t come!”. He insisted: “I’m not anti-immigration. I’m anti-
illegal immigration”.
In a 2024 Twitter post, Casey had admitted to working illegally in America for 18 months, even
though his campaign for the European Parliament was largely on an anti-illegal-immigration
platform and touted how compliant Irish emigrants are compared to immigrants.
Casey vowed that if elected president, he would ‘pardon’ anyone convicted under any
new hate speech legislation. “That’s why I’m not really concerned about this hate speech
legislation, because if it got passed I’d just give everybody a pardon”, he said, though he was
standing for the European Parliament not a Trumpian Presidency.
Saoirse McHugh again called him a clown during a TV debate, after his hypocrisy on illegal
work had been exposed and he had left the stage for a few unexplained minutes. In a Pádraig
Flynn-esque cameo he shared that he had owned two farms and so knew how difficult it
was for farmers to make money. He argued for a ‘three-state solution” in Israel/Palestine.
He got 3.1% of the first-preference vote and was not elected.
VILLAGE IDIOT - PETER CASEY:
JULY-AUGUST 2024
July-August 2024 79

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