‘Fianna Fáil needs somebody like Peter Casey to shake it up,’ election runner-up insists
Fianna Fáil TDs have outright rejected Peter Casey’s calls to allow him to join and make him party leader, saying he would be “eaten alive” in real politics and will never be welcomed because he is “scapegoating” minority groups.
A dozen Fianna Fáil TDs backed the party hierarchy’s decision to ignore Mr Casey’s takeover overtures, despite one TD privately saying the businessman’s controversial remarks about Travellers are “the one thing most of us think”.
Mr Casey finished second in the presidential race, with 23% of the vote.
He said he wants to not only join Fianna Fáil but to become its next leader.
The businessman told Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ radio yesterday that the party needs him and claimed he will set up “new Fianna Fáil” if it rejects his offer.
Mr Casey championed himself as Fianna Fáil’s next leader by saying he could “reposition the party very quickly”, that leader Micheál Martin is only blocking him “because I want his job”, and Fianna Fáil “definitely needs somebody like Peter Casey to shake it up”.
A dozen party TDs rejected the overtures, insisting to the that Mr Casey does not belong in Fianna Fáil.
Describing Mr Casey’s ambitions to immediately become leader as “laughable”, Carlow-Kilkenny TD Bobby Aylward said that Mr Casey “may be getting ahead of himself”.
Limerick City TD and social protection spokesman Willie O’Dea said Mr Casey’s leadership chances are “slim” because “the last thing we need is someone scapegoating groups”.
Mr O’Dea said that setting up a new party “would be a complete waste of time”.
Cork North Central TD and business spokesman Billy Kelleher said while “we live in a democracy”, he does not believe Mr Casey will be able to join Fianna Fáil due to his attacks on minority groups.
Clare TD and Fianna Fáil communications spokesman Timmy Dooley said the “comic-like” Mr Casey’s comments are “lazy politics, divisive, and dangerous”. Mr Dooley said that while “we all realise there are problems, Peter Casey’s approach isn’t offering any answers whatsoever”.
Junior spokeswoman for equality, immigration, and integration, Kildare South TD Fiona O’Loughlin, said it is “bizarre” that Mr Casey “straight away wanted the top job”, saying he “doesn’t seem to have a vision or a strategy”.
Ms O’Loughlin added that, “to be fair, he started a conversation that we as a society need to have about rights and responsibilities”. It has already happened at political level, she said, “but really needs to happen at grassroots level, otherwise we will remain a society out of sync with one another”.
Housing spokesman and Dublin Fingal TD Darragh O’Brien responded to Mr Casey’s leadership bid with laughter, while Wexford TD and mental health spokesman James Browne noted Mr Casey’s similar appearance to the mayor in the movie Jaws, by joking: “I wouldn’t even trust him with all those beaches in Wexford.”
However, a small number of TDs said they understood Mr Casey’s views.
They included one TD, who said that while Mr Casey only did well in the presidential race because of “a piss-poor field rather than his vision or brilliance” and that, “in a full field of experienced politicians he’d be eaten alive”, his attitudes to Travellers are “one thing most of us think”.
“Probably a nice guy but obviously made so much money there’s nothing left to do but buy a country. That only happens in the movies,” said the anonymous TD.
