Article sponsored by Independent European election candidate Peter Casey
Peter Casey says Donegal will not be the forgotten county if he is elected as an MEP.
Casey says that as only one of two candidates running for the European Parliament in Donegal and from the border counties, he is asking for your No. 1 Vote on June 7th and I promise Donegal will NOT be the forgotten county at the European Parliament.
As one of nine children, he grew up in Derry during the height of the Troubles and on a scholarship studied business and politics at Aston University in Birmingham, graduating with honours in business and politics in 1979. After working briefly in England, he emigrated to Australia to work in senior roles at Rank Xerox and while over there, he launched his first business which he built into one of the leading search and IT contracting firms in New South Wales. After 15 years in Australia, he opened a leading recruitment firm, Claddagh Resources and moved to the US in 1995. In 2018, he was recognised as one of Aston University’s 50 Most Influential Alumni and was honoured as a leading Irish American businessman by Irish American Magazine.
Despite having lived and worked on three Continents, he is a proud Irishman. He has only ever had one passport, and have never sworn allegiance to any other country. He’s been married to his wife Helen for over 30 years and is the father of five children. He first dipped my toes into politics when he was invited to participate in the White House Good Friday Peace Talks in the late 1990’s. He used his profile from RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den show as a launching pad for my political career and he came second in the 2018 presidential election. As an Independent candidate for the Midlands North West in the European Elections on 7th June, he will use his 45 years of business experience and contacts to bring more jobs and employment to the Midlands North West, when elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the area.
He has been successful in persuading three Companies from India, America and Australia to establish their European Head Offices in Ireland. He arranged for the Chairman of Tata Sons who own Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Steel, Air India, Tetley Tea and Tata Consultancy Services, with an estimated worth of €350BN and with a turnover of over €150B, to come to Ireland and meet with the former Taoiseach. Tata Consultancy Services who own Pramerica, now have operations in Letterkenny employing over 1,500 people. They employ over 1 million people globally and are the largest employer in the private sector in the UK. He also arranged for Tata’s chairperson Chandra to meet with the Presidents of the Universities and Institutes of Technology to discuss bilateral opportunities. He has also written two best-selling books on the Tata Group.
Mica Defective Blocks – 100% Redress For All
I believe that every person affected by defective blocks that have the micro problem should be compensated 100% — including those who invested in a second property for their retirement funds. Everyone affected deserves compensation for the government’s incompetence in not carrying out the necessary quality controls required by law. I’m totally opposed to not supporting 100% redress for everyone affected.
Make Ireland Safe Again
The vast majority of voters I’ve met on the campaign trail say they feel far less safe now than they did ten years ago. It’s madness that we’ve got fewer Gardaí on the beat when we’re in the middle of a crisis with illegal immigrants coming across the border in their droves and are freely walking around without being vetted — nobody knows where they came from or who they even are. This would not be tolerated in the likes of Australia or America.
Passport = No Entry = No Benefits
We have a massive crisis in Ireland! Anyone who comes into Ireland illegally should be deported immediately. We should not be forking out taxpayers’ hard earned money to bogus asylum seekers to appeal deportation orders when they are here illegally in the first place. We must follow the Netherlands who have now vowed to opt out of EU rules that compel member states to house illegal immigrants and deport them by force if necessary.
Legal and Illegal Migration
I have strong positions around the cost of living and housing crisis, and, of course, the illegal immigrant crisis. I believe, having been an immigrant myself, puts me in a unique position over many of the other candidates to speak with authority on the current illegal immigrant crisis in Ireland and I will put forward practical solutions at a European level to help resolve it. One solution is to fine the airlines and ferries €500K every time an illegal immigrant gets off their vessel or plane. They are effectively trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland.
A recent High Court decision means that people cannot be deported to Rwanda also means that Northern Ireland and the border counties will be over run with illegal immigrants in a matter of weeks. We need to have immediate negotiations with Britain and we need to ensure that our assessment and treatment of asylum seekers are identical to Britain and that they all get assessed in the same way no matter where they come from.
It is unfair to have put such pressure on Ireland, as is being witnessed by the tent crisis in Dublin. I was shocked, appalled and deeply saddened when I visited both the International Protection Office — which is now an eyesore with it being fenced off — and witnessed first-hand the appalling sight of hundreds of tents along the Grand Canal which should be a national heritage site but instead is a terrible sight for sore eyes.
Carbon Tax = A Tax on Rural Ireland
I’m totally opposed to Carbon Tax and for that reason I’m strongly opposed to the vast majority of the Green Party’s policies. Carbon Tax is a regressive tax. It is not fair that the people who can least afford to pay are burdened with it. Carbon Tax does not tackle climate change or solve global warming.
A Vote For Peter Casey is a Vote For Job Creation
I passionately believe that one of the main responsibilities for an MEP is to be an ambassador for the constituency and help bring employment into the constituency and to stop jobs from leaving it. Did you know that 80% of all corporate taxes in Ireland are paid by American multinationals? With this in mind, as your MEP, I would work hard to promote the multinationals working in my area so they create more employment here and enable them to use Ireland as a springboard into Europe. I have already helped to create jobs in Ireland and will continue to use my business connections in Europe and right across the world to encourage more companies to open offices here.
Bad Mobile Phone Signals are killing Rural Ireland
It’s impossible to do business in rural Ireland without proper mobile phone coverage. It doesn’t add up how Ireland is supposedly the tech giant of Europe and yet in many areas of rural Ireland you get only one or no bars on your phone signal. This inept and obsolete government has invested €3 billion on a 30-year project in obsolete technology. We urgently need to erect a broadband mast that will deliver five bars to everyone in rural Ireland.
Agriculture
Ireland’s agricultural industry has been devastated by successive Irish governments and by the EU’s out-of-touch policies. They now want Ireland to reduce the size of the suckling herd by 50% due to emissions. “But simply reducing the national herd is too simplistic and could make matters worse globally,” argues one leading expert. And due to the EU-Mercosur Agreement we will be importing beef from Argentina. The Green’s position on this is illogical — killing Irish cows only to import them from deforested plains in South America is ridiculous and disastrous for both farmers and the environment. If elected as your voice in Europe, I will be fighting to ensure our farmers are not deprived of the opportunity to sell Irish beef. I will also ensure that there is more equality in the EU’s CAP payment policy. Our farmers need a fairer deal.
Healthcare
There are two different healthcare systems in Ireland — one if you live in Dublin and have private healthcare which will ensure you’re seen to asap and one close to being on its proverbial last legs if you live in rural Ireland, which is wrong. Our healthcare system is a disgrace and as your MEP I would campaign relentlessly for vast improvements.
Fisheries
Our fisheries policy has been one unmitigated disaster not just for Irish fishermen but for the entire nation. We were sold a pig in a poke by the EU. Year after year our fishermen have their quotas cut yet other countries have their boats come into our waters and raid our fish seemingly without hindrance. I still cannot get my head around the absurdity and unfairness of Ireland’s treasured fishing quotas being reduced to accommodate the Germans. I hold the view that the entire EU fishing policy needs re-negotiating.
Ireland’s Neutrality
Despite the common perception, Ireland is not truly neutral. We do take sides and we support Ukraine, not Russia. However, our defence capabilities are lacking. Our navy and helicopters are insufficient and we should consider reallocating these resources to support our fishermen, who risk their lives every day. Additionally, it’s crucial that we take control of our national defence policy by removing the triple lock, which currently requires us to seek approval for overseas peace missions from the UN before making any defence-related decisions.
As a true independent voice, and a border candidate and only one of two candidates running for the European Parliament, I am Peter Casey asking for your number one vote on June 7th.
