Peter Casey

Peter Joseph Casey (born 9 October 1957) is an Irish entrepreneur and unsuccessful political candidate.

He is the founder and former Executive Chairman of Claddagh Resources, a global recruitment and executive search business.

Casey was born in Derry on 9 October 1957, the third of nine children (five boys and four girls).

His mother Patsy Casey was deputy headmistress at Nazareth House Primary School and his father Leo was bursar at St Columb's College.

Casey attended both schools before studying business administration, politics, and economics at Aston University in Birmingham.

Casey joined Rank Xerox UK as a sales representative in 1979, and went on to win a national award for sales in his first year.

He moved to Sydney in 1981, and was ranked in the top 5% of sales executives nationally.

He became the youngest district manager in Rank Xerox and won Three Oceans Cup as the top Sales Manager in Asia.

In 1983, Casey joined Océ Reprographics as state manager for New South Wales.

He then rejoined Rank Xerox in 1984 as a branch manager in Sydney, before setting up his first company, The Trinity Group, in 1985.

The Trinity Group, an IT contracting firm based in Sydney, was one of five firms awarded a New South Wales government tender to supply temporary staff, the largest contract ever awarded in staffing at the time.

Casey sold this business in 1992, and moved back to Ireland for six months before setting out for Atlanta, Georgia where he founded Network Resources, which became Claddagh Resources in 1996.

Claddagh Resources place high-level executives across the globe for many Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, SAP, Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle, IBM, and EY.

In 2000, the company established its European headquarters in County Donegal which has recently expanded operations to a new Dublin office.

Irish America Magazine named him as one of 2007's leading Irish American businessmen.

Ireland's version of the business-related TV programme Dragons' Den selected Casey to appear as an investor for the show's fifth and sixth series.

Over the course of the series he made several investments.

From 2012 to 2014 he was a panellist on the RTÉ television programme Dragons' Den, in which he was one of the investors adjudicating business plan pitches.

In January 2015, Casey said he would consider running as a candidate at the next Irish general election, though he expressed uncertainty about which constituency he might choose.

When pressed to name a constituency he thought he might select Donegal, where he had recently purchased a home, or somewhere in Dublin, where he intended to set up his latest business.

"Realistically I'm going to be spending a lot of time in Dublin", Casey said at the time.

Casey gave his opinion on the Fine Gael−Labour coalition to The Irish Times.

"In fairness to the current Government I think they have performed fairly well", he said.

"Some things they have done badly but overall I'd probably give them a B [grade]."

He lived in Atlanta, Georgia, with his second wife Helen and their five children until 2016, when they moved to Greencastle, County Donegal.

He suffers from degenerative disc disease and has been prescribed medical cannabis to counteract the nausea he experiences when taking opiates.

He attempted to be elected to Seanad Éireann as part of the Industrial and Commercial Panel in 2016.

At his Seanad campaign launch he said he intended to support foreign direct investment, indigenous business development and job creation.

In the count, Casey received 14 votes; 113 were required to secure a seat.

He has run unsuccessfully for a number of political offices, including as a candidate in the 2018 Irish presidential election, coming second.

On 30 August 2018, Casey announced his intention to seek a nomination for that year's Irish presidential election.

He became the third 'dragon' from the Irish version of Dragons' Den to seek a nomination after Gavin Duffy and Seán Gallagher.

Casey uploaded a promotional video entitled "Platform for President of Ireland" to YouTube.

He secured the nominations of four local authorities; Kerry County Council, Clare County Council, Limerick City and County Council and Tipperary County Council.

He criticised incumbent President Michael D. Higgins for "extolling the virtues" of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

On 17 October, Casey attracted a mixture of criticism and praise when he made comments on the Irish Independent's Floating Voter podcast regarding social housing that was offered to, and refused by, Irish Travellers in Thurles, County Tipperary.

Casey described Irish Travellers as "basically people camping in someone else's land" who are "not paying their fair share of taxes in society".

There were calls for Casey to withdraw from the race, including from Traveller activist group Pavee Point.

Other candidates condemned Casey's comments.

and in April 2019, as a candidate for that year's European Parliament elections, in the Midlands-North-West constituency.