Latest: Leo Varadkar hits out at Peter Casey over Traveller comments

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has called on the public to send "a very clear message" to Peter Casey in the imminent presidential election vote by rejecting his deeply "divisive" and "regrettable" views about the Travelling community.

Latest: Leo Varadkar hits out at Peter Casey over Traveller comments

By Fiachra O'Cionnaith

Update 5.55pm: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has called on the public to send "a very clear message" to Peter Casey in the imminent presidential election vote by rejecting his deeply "divisive" and "regrettable" views about the Travelling community.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr Varadkar said the businessman's comments was wrong to make the controversial comments "to gain attention" and said he expects voters to vote against him next Friday.

In recent days, Mr Casey has made a number of questionable comments about the Travelling community which have dominated the presidential campaign.

In particular, Mr Casey said he does not believe the remarks are racist because he does not see the Travelling community as a different race of people.

Asked about the comments at a Brexit press conference after the European Council summit on Thursday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he disagrees entirely with Mr Casey's views.

Labelling them as "divisive" and "regrettable", the Taoiseach said he hopes voters give people with the same views as Mr Casey "a very clear message" come the presidential vote on Friday, October 26.

"In relation to the comments by Peter Casey, the presidential candidate, all I can say is I think his remarks were very divisive, I think they were designed to gain attention for him and his campaign, and I think that's really regrettable.

"I hope when the people of Ireland come to Ireland to vote next Friday they will give Mr Casey and anyone who holds those views a very clear message," Mr Varadkar said.

Earlier: Traveller children ‘scared and nervous’ after presidential candidate’s comments

Update 5.50pm: Traveller children have been left “scared and nervous” after hearing of presidential candidate Peter Casey’s comments about their community at school.

Mr Casey first made the comments on a podcast where he denied Traveller people were an ethnic minority, and were “camping on other people’s land”.

The comments have come under severe scrutiny from the media and the public, however Mr Casey has stood by his word, and travelled to Tipperary today to visit the site of a housing development which has been a cause for dispute between the county council and the local travelling community.

The houses, at Cabra Bridge outside Thurles, have been uninhabited for months after the travelling community who were due to move in to the new homes say the local authority built the houses with no room for horse grazing.

The travelling community say horses are a lifeline and an integral part of their culture, and they could not move into the houses without appropriate land guaranteed for grazing.

Presidential candidate Peter Casey and his wife Helen arrive to visit a number of homes at Cabra Bridge, Thurles (Brian Lawless/PA)
Presidential candidate Peter Casey and his wife Helen arrive to visit a number of homes at Cabra Bridge, Thurles (Brian Lawless/PA)

“The children are very frightened about this, this talk he’s coming out with, it’s very frightening for kids,” Mr McCarty said.

“They’re listening to other kids in school who are talking to them about this situation.

“I never thought this issue would ever come to this, we would be happy with the houses, but this isn’t what they promised us.”

“There is no reason for Mr Casey to come down here and talk down to us, what does he know about us?,” he added.

TJ Hogan, a social policy writer for the Irish Traveller Network, says he would like Mr Casey to retract the statements.

“I’d like him to retract what he said, he’s not a president who would represent me, or my family and would not represent the diverse communities that we have here in Ireland,” he said.

On Wednesday night during a live television debate, Mr Casey accused the other candidates of lying when they said they would have no issue with travellers living next door to them.

He stood by his comments on Thursday in Thurles, but did not make an effort to speak to any of the travelling community who were nearby.

“My position is the proclamation says we should cherish all the children of the nation equally, it doesn’t say we should cherish some more than others,” Mr Casey said.

“I want to get attention to this, people need to stand up and say something is wrong when it’s wrong, there are people sleeping in the streets.

“It’s wrong we’re separating one group and saying; ‘You’re different’.”

When asked if he believed the four generations of families who have lived in the area had a right to stay, he replied: “No, I don’t.

“The president is the voice for the majority as well, I would seek to be the voice of everyone in Ireland.”- Press Association

Earlier: Defiant Peter Casey refuses to back down on Traveller comments

Update 5.30pm: Presidential hopeful Peter Casey has once again criticised Travellers representative groups as he visited a new housing estate for Traveller families in Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Six families are refusing to move into the €1.7m development, because of a dispute with Tipperary County Council over their horses.

Mr Casey is facing mounting calls from Travellers' representative groups to pull out of the Presidential race after claiming Travellers should not have special ethnic minority status.

"A lovely area. It's so sad," he said, commenting on the six newly constructed houses that are at the centre of the dispute.

Mr Casey, who visited the site an hour earlier than planned, is facing mounting calls to pull out of the Presidential race after his comments on Travellers, where he said they shouldn’t have special minority status, and claimed they were “basically people camping in someone else’s land”.

Mr Casey was defiant this afternoon and once again hit out at Pavee Point.

"Pavee Point leadership needs to come here and needs to explain to the Travelling community that they're really not doing a justice to the Travelling community.

"I thought that Martin Collins would be here today, that was one of the reasons that I came down. This is just wrong."

Protests were expected to greet him, however around a dozen protestors arrived shortly after Mr Casey had already left.

Barry McCarthy is a member of one of the six families refusing to move into the new houses.

"We'll just stay where we are and they can give them to the homeless," Mr McCarthy said.

We're not racist against anyone.

Mr McCarthy said he would like to meet with Mr Casey to discuss his comments.

"He came down, he took the trip today, he took the long road down. We're willing to meet him but he ran off as quick as he can.

"He is very racist against Travellers, to be honest about it. Why, I don't know.

"I would have loved to have met him to ask him that story, to hear his side of it."

Earlier: Casey travels to Cork amid controversy over Traveller comments

By Catherine Shanahan

Update - 2.40pm: Presidential candidate Peter Casey received a largely warm welcome in Cork’s English Market today despite controversially describing Travellers as de facto trespassers yesterday.

Peter Casey met Sean and Laurel Beaudette from Canada during his visit to the English Market in Cork today. Photo: Denis Minihane.
Peter Casey met Sean and Laurel Beaudette from Canada during his visit to the English Market in Cork today. Photo: Denis Minihane.

The overwhelming reaction among those the Irish Examiner spoke to was that Mr Casey has said openly what others express privately.

Mr Casey said Travellers are “basically people who are camping on someone else’s land” during an interview on Wednesday.

He said it is “ridiculous” that Travellers are refusing to move into “luxury homes” built by the local authority in Tipperary at a cost of €1.7m because they “don’t have stables for their horses”.

Asked if he regrets his comments, Mr Casey said: “Of course I don’t. I haven’t said anything wrong.”

After his meet-and-greet in the English Market, Mr Casey was heading to Tipperary to see for himself the houses he has described as “state of the art”.

Peter Casey to visit Thurles development amid planned protests by Travelling Community

Presidential hopeful Peter Casey will visit a housing development which has been built for Travellers in Tipperary today.

Mr Casey stood by his comments during the presidential debate last night, referencing an ongoing dispute over housing between Travellers and local authority in the county.

“We have so many wonderful nationalities here, it’s wrong to single out one particular ethnic group differently,” he said.

Meanwhile, a protest is due to take place later in Thurles when Mr Casey visits a number of houses left unoccupied in a dispute between a traveller family and the county council.

The €1.7m development was built for members of the Travelling Community near their current site at Cabra Bridge in the town.

However, they have refused to move into the houses.

Mr Casey will visit the site today amid criticism for describing Travellers as people who are camping on somebody else's land and shouldn't be given special status.

The Minister for Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan says he fundamentally disagrees with Peter Casey's comments about Travellers.

Earlier: Peter Casey stands by remarks on Travelling community in presidential debate

The first televised presidential debate featuring all six candidates was held last night.

The candidates, current President Michael D Higgins, Senator Joan Freeman, Sinn Fein MEP Liadh Ni Riada and three businessmen, Sean Gallagher, Peter Casey and Gavin Duffy, took questions from broadcaster Pat Kenny.

Mr Casey faced calls to withdraw from the race yesterday morning after he said Travellers are people camping on someone else’s land.

Mr Casey claimed Ireland’s recognition of them as members of an ethnic minority was “a load of nonsense”.

He stood by his comments on the Virgin Media One show last night, referencing an ongoing dispute over housing between Travellers and local authority in Tipperary.

“We have so many wonderful nationalities here, it’s wrong to single out one particular ethnic group differently,” he said.

“One of the county councils who endorsed me was Tipperary, and as you know we have a housing crisis at the moment.

“When I was down there, there was 1.7 million euro spent building six houses that the travelling community wouldn’t move into because they wanted sheds and two stables and one acre of land.

“Why should they be given the right to turn down a house? I think that is wrong.”

Mr Casey accused the fellow nominees of lying about their feelings towards Travellers and said: “It’s like giving chocolate to a diabetic, you’re not helping them.”

Liadh Ni Riada (Niall Carson/PA)
Liadh Ni Riada (Niall Carson/PA)

Sinn Fein’s Ms Riada was asked about her “ambivalence to violence” in regard to past comments about IRA atrocities.

“I think any atrocity like that (the Enniskillen bombing) should be condemned, but look, the IRA have been gone the last 20 years, we have a peace process in place, we should be cementing that.

“Would you call Nelson Mandela a terrorist?”

Mr Kenny then suggested that Brexit could bring back the IRA, before he moved on to the next question.

Later in the programme, Ms Freeman, who voted No in the Repeal the 8th referendum, was accused of being out of step with the majority of the public who voted to repeal Ireland’s abortion laws.

“I don’t think the Irish people are as judgmental as you have just been, Pat (Kenny),” she said.

“I reflect what Ireland is, this is what makes us democratic, we’re able to discuss and debate.

“It was my personal conviction, that has nothing to do with my public duty.”

During the debate, the three businessmen admitted they supported water charges.

Mr Higgins, Mr Gallagher and Mr Duffy revealed that they were landlords when asked directly about the housing crisis.

When the debate turned to presidential expenses, Mr Casey repeatedly levelled charges at Mr Higgins about his spending.

Mr Higgins labelled the charges “a fantasy list”.

“I don’t draw my ministerial pension, I’m perfectly happy to accept any salary that the government suggest,” he said.

“About the 317,000 euro you ask about, I have no problem appointing an independent audit.

“It would be entirely wrong to personalise or politicise this.”

The vote will be held on October 26.

- Press Association

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