Peter Casey

Peter Casey
Peter Casey
Born	October 9, 1957 (age 69); Derry, Northern Ireland
Occupation(s)	Businessman, television personality, political candidate
Known for	Founder and former Executive Chairman of Claddagh Resources; panel member on Dragons' Den; candidate in Irish presidential and European Parliament elections

Peter Joseph Casey (born 9 October 1957) is a notable Irish businessman and the founder and former Executive Chairman of Claddagh Resources, a worldwide recruitment and executive search company. Between 2012 and 2014, he appeared as a panel member on the RTÉ television show Dragons' Den, where he assessed business proposals from an investor’s perspective.

Casey has made several attempts to enter politics, including securing second place in the 2018 presidential election in Ireland and standing as a candidate in the 2019 European Parliament elections representing the Midlands-North-West constituency.

Early and personal life

Born on 9 October 1957 in Derry, Casey is one of nine siblings, being the third child in his family. His mother served as a deputy headmistress, while his father held the position of bursar at local schools he attended before pursuing higher education in business administration, politics, and economics at Aston University in Birmingham.

He and his wife Helen lived in Atlanta, Georgia with their five children until 2016, after which they moved to Greencastle, County Donegal. Casey manages degenerative disc disease and utilizes medical cannabis to counteract nausea caused by opiate medications.

Business career

Casey launched his professional journey at Rank Xerox UK in 1979 as a sales representative, receiving a national sales accolade during his initial year. In 1981, after relocating to Sydney, he ranked among the top 5% of sales performers nationwide and became Rank Xerox’s youngest district manager, earning the Three Oceans Cup as Asia’s leading Sales Manager. In 1983, he took on the role of state manager for New South Wales at Océ Reprographics before returning to Rank Xerox in 1984 as branch manager in Sydney. The following year, he established The Trinity Group, an IT contracting company that secured one of New South Wales’ largest government staffing contracts at that time. Casey sold this business in 1992 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he founded Network Resources—later rebranded as Claddagh Resources in 1996. Claddagh Resources focuses on placing senior executives worldwide for Fortune 500 corporations such as Coca-Cola, SAP, Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle, IBM, and EY. The firm set up its European headquarters in County Donegal in 2000 and has since expanded operations to Dublin. In 2007, Irish America Magazine named Casey among the top Irish American entrepreneurs.

During his campaign for the 2024 European Parliament elections, Casey publicly admitted on Twitter that he had worked without authorization in the United States for a period of eighteen months.

Television

Casey was chosen as one of the investors on Ireland’s business reality series Dragons' Den for its fifth and sixth seasons, where he made multiple investment decisions.

Political career

In January 2015, Casey expressed interest in contesting the forthcoming Irish general election, considering constituencies in Donegal—where he owned property—and Dublin, where he intended to launch a new enterprise. He evaluated the Fine Gael–Labour coalition government with an overall grade of "B."

2016 Seanad election

In 2016, Casey campaigned for a seat in Seanad Éireann through the Industrial and Commercial Panel, advocating policies that supported foreign direct investment, growth of domestic businesses, and employment generation. He garnered 14 votes but fell significantly short of the required 113 for election.

2018 presidential election

On 30 August 2018, Casey declared his intention to run in the Irish presidential race, becoming the third entrepreneur from the Irish Dragons' Den to enter the contest. He obtained official endorsements from the councils of Kerry, Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary. During the campaign, Casey openly criticized the sitting President Michael D. Higgins for his commendations of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

Casey generated significant controversy by commenting on Irish Travellers in Thurles who reportedly declined social housing offers, referring to them as "essentially people camping on land that isn’t theirs" and accusing them of not contributing their fair share in taxes. These remarks prompted demands for him to withdraw and drew rebuke from political leaders including Tánaiste Simon Coveney. Amid protests, Casey visited the Thurles location under Garda escort. He briefly paused his campaign to contemplate his position but ultimately chose to continue. Following this episode, his support increased sharply from 2% to a firm second place.

He also characterized Ireland as a "welfare-dependent nation" that cultivates an unsustainable culture of entitlement. Ultimately, Casey finished as runner-up to Higgins, securing 342,727 votes, which accounted for 23.3% of the total.

Following the election, Casey announced plans to join Fianna Fáil and compete for a Donegal seat in the forthcoming general election. However, Fianna Fáil officials stated their candidate list was complete; in response, Casey suggested he might establish a new party dubbed "the new Fianna Fáil" if denied entry. By February 2019, he confirmed he would stand as an independent candidate in Donegal.

2019 European Parliament election

In April 2019, Casey submitted his nomination papers to contest the 2019 European Parliament election representing the Midlands–North-West area. During his campaign in May 2019, he was recorded stating, "The face of Ireland is changing. People say 'you’re racist'. Of course I'm racist, I'm a very proud Irish man." On The Floating Voter Podcast produced by the Irish Independent, he stood by this statement without apology and criticized European Union migration policies. He ultimately did not win a seat, finishing fifth in a constituency that elected four representatives.

2020 general election

Casey contested the 2020 general election as an independent candidate in both the Donegal and Dublin West constituencies—the latter being held by then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. In Dublin West, he received 213 first-preference votes and was eliminated during the second count. In Donegal, he obtained 1,142 first-preference votes but failed to secure a seat.

2024 European Parliament election

Casey again stood for election in the 2024 European Parliament election within the Midlands–North-West constituency. He garnered 21,102 first-preference votes (3.1%) but was not elected.

2025 presidential election

On 2 March 2025, Casey declared his intention to seek nominations from various city and county councils with the aim of running in the 2025 Irish presidential election.

Publications

In 2014, Casey published Tata: The World's Greatest Company, which chronicles the evolution of the Tata Group. He has also penned opinion pieces for leading newspapers, championing the extension of voting rights to Irish expatriates in the Irish Independent. Furthermore, he highlighted Ireland's opportunity to lead in the online education sector through MOOCs in the Sunday Independent. Following the Mt. Gox incident, he analyzed the dangers associated with Bitcoin on TheJournal.ie. Additionally, he examined the influence of credit rating agencies on Ireland's financial turmoil and proposed regulatory improvements in the Sunday Independent.

External links