We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
FORMER DRAGON’S DEN star Peter Casey has promised he will push businesses to relocate to rural Ireland if he is successful in securing a seat in the Seanad.
The businessman announced this morning that he will run in elections for the upper house of the Oireachtas. He has been nominated by business group Ibec to sit on the Seanad’s industrial and commercial panel.
To run for the Seanad independent candidates must receive the backing of a nominated body, large representative organisations in fields such as business or agriculture.
Known for his involvement on RTE’s Dragon’s Den series, Casey is also the founder and chief executive of recruitment company Claddagh Resources, which places high level executive with large consulting and IT firms.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie Casey said wants to see “less politicians” in the Seanad.
“We need less politicians in politics and more businessmen making business decisions,” he said.
Peter Casey / TwitterDelighted to announce I am to stand for election to Seanad Eireann @ibec_irl @sharonbannerton @Bannerton_PR pic.twitter.com/rgGVubl8vR
— Peter Casey (@CaseyPeterJ) March 2, 2016
Rural Ireland
One of Casey’s main focuses would be to spread investment throughout the country and lessen the concentration of businesses in Dublin. He says he would encourage tax breaks, rates concessions, and other incentives, “alongside proper connectivity and infrastructure” to encourage companies to relocate to rural Ireland.
Casey said he would aim to provide tax relief on the initial earnings of returning emigrants.
“There is a lot of cost associated with people coming back, you have to physically pack up and move, by the time you get a job you’re (spending money) too,” he said.
I’m not sure whether the exact (tax relief) would be on the first €100,000 or €200,000 (of earnings), but give people a real incentive to people to come back to Ireland and they’ll come back.”
He also said he would look to bring in a break on capital gains tax if an entrepreneur sells a company 15 years after it is founded, which he says would help create incentives for people to build businesses of scale.
Casey, who is married with five children, is a graduate in business and politics from Aston University in Birmingham. He has been named as one of the university’s 50 most influential alumni and was named by Irish America Magazine as one the leading Irish American businessmen for 2007.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I wasn’t aware senators had that much power. Oh wait, they don’t. Jog on Casey!
If he thought he could do so much good for the country he should have put his name forward in the general election and take his chances like everyone else.
Would he forego the salary and expenses that goes with the handy number.
Peter Casey (born 9 October 1957) is an entrepreneur and television personality based in Atlanta in the United States.
Atlanta,The good ole U S of A- Stay over there Peter, you obviously haven`t got a clue as to the requirements of setting up businesses in Rural Ireland,
Broadband,
large demographics from which to employ people with skills from.
Housing to be provided for said workforce.
Road infrastructure to deliver supplies and take away the finished products.
Water infrastructure to facilitate factories and offices.
these are only a few off the top of my head.
The Seanad needs reform. For too long it has been abused by political parties as a place to put their failed politicians that nobody wants. Like that Higgins one in Galway. The people have voted numerous times that they didnt want her at Local , National and at European level. She has failed to get elected every time. How are the people supposed to have faith in a system where they have on numerous occasions voted to not want somebody and still have that person in a position of power as a Senator. Absolutely ridiculous. The Seanad needs to be given back to the people. It should represent them at all levels.
When one media campaign finishes another one starts, that just what the Seanad needs a television celebrity sponcered by big business to push their agenda. People before business because putting profits into the hands of the few does not help the many. That priest who helps homeless should be elected not someone who is more interested in moving profits abroad and screwing producers. Rural Ireland business are being under cut by middle men bringing in sub standard foreign produce and relabelling it Irish. We produce more beef than anywhere else in the world per head of population and still people are buying frozen muck. He’s trying to help himself to a easy pay cheque not rural Ireland.
What is it about Dragons Den celebs that they think they have the answer to everything. Whatever happened to the last Dragon who thought he could be President if Ireland……. RTE must have a cellar load of these clones.
If any potential investors (especially those from overseas) have been monitoring the “progress” of the Shannon LNG project in North Kerry, they’ll steer clear, as they wouldn’t want to be going round and round in circles for ten years, spending tens of millions, and get nowhere thanks to dealing with intransigent energy regulators.
Promising THE MOON AND THE STARS, How did that work out with this F.G. Labour election?
Be better if the existing tax loopholes were tightened up and enforced,before new ones are introduced..
So take jobs from one part of the country and give to another?
Or create jobs in rural areas that badly need it and lessen people’s commutes who have no choice but to work in Dublin.
Well said Sam…
Does this guy even know what the Seanad is? How exactly does he think he’s going to do this from the Seanad???
In addition to his Business Degree, Peter, it would appear, also holds a Degree in Politics!
IMHO, on paper, this successful businessman should be a very valuable asset to Ireland’s Upper House, and I don’t doubt his sincerity on his motives to get elected.
However, to achieve anything tangible, Peter would need many many business-savvy allies in the Lower House bringing and pushing Bill’s, carrying his agenda, through the current glacial paced system.
A mini Marshall type Plan / Regional Development Plan is now what’s required of our new government to kick start Ireland’s rural economy, which has been in the doldrums for far too long.
Anyway, good luck Peter!
As you Mention “Peter”………. Well through my many years of watching people in the government trough.
Your beloved Peter based in Atlanta is just lining himself up like the other leeches in government.
Sorry for being so harsh.
Rural Ireland needs motorways not more wanabee politicians…….
I’d like to see Peter in the Seanad
At last business men in political seats, Peter CASEY has succeeded in everything he’s ever done if not straight away, by perseverance at I know of the man is straight honest talk & help to those who he can help when he can. It will be a welcome change. Good luck peter we need you.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say