Inishowen-based businessman Peter Casey is running as an Independent candidate in the European Elections.
The Dragons Den star from Derry, who made a bid for the Áras in 2018, is taking a stance against the government’s “open border policy” to asylum seekers.
Last year, Casey set out to build “the best Ukrainian refugee centre in Ireland” at a Buncrana apartment complex, announcing his intention to operate it on a “not for profit” basis, with half the profit going to local charities and half going to refugees to visit home. The property was targeted in an arson incident last summer.
Speaking on his campaign for a seat on the European Parliament, he said: “Like most people, I am very concerned about the total open border policy of our government and indeed the opposition, Sinn Féin. When the majority of the Irish MEPs voted to “Opt In” to the EU Asylum and Migration Pact, I believe that this was a serious mistake, as Ireland, along with Denmark had already successfully negotiated the option to “Opt Out”. We have a housing crisis in Ireland and I believe that the government was wrong to agree to take in twenty six thousand additional asylum seekers. We should have “Opted Out”.”
He continued: “I am totally in favour of diversity and I support Ukraine one hundred percent, but I simply feel that, at the moment, after giving refuge to one hundred and ten thousand Ukrainians, we should not have agreed to take in twenty six thousand asylum seekers.
“When I watched Helen McEntee, our Justice Minister try and explain her department’s non performance in returning only three of the one hundred and eighty eight asylum seekers back to their own country, to Michael McNamara TD in the Dáil, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Then, when I heard the British Prime Minister Richie Sunak (sic), say that, the recently passed Rwanda Bill would lead to an influx of asylum seekers into Ireland, that just confirmed that I had made the right decision to stand. This simply cannot happen.”
