Casey in new dig at Higgins over his presidential driver
Candidate says he would ‘borrow’ an embassy driver on trips abroad
PRESIDENTIAL candidate Peter Casey appears to have taken a swipe at Michael D Higgins at his campaign launch by saying he will not – if elected – bring his presidential driver on overseas trips.
Mr Casey, who first referred to the issue in a controversial tweet which showed him hitting a golf ball into Lough Foyle, has said he accepted that he would have to have a State driver for security reasons.
However, he said: “Anybody who has seen me drive a car would really insist on me getting a driver but I don’t think I would bring the driver with me abroad. I think that there are plenty of drivers that can be borrowed from the embassies.”
He went on to joke: “I’ve been encouraged not to drive.”
The comment comes against a backdrop of controversy over the appointment of Mr Higgins’s former driver during his 2011 campaign, Kevin McCarthy, to the position of executive assistant in the Áras.
In his role Mr McCarthy accompanies the President abroad but no longer works as his driver.
Previously, Mr McCarthy travelled with the President on a trip to Lanzarote to work for him there but the cost of the trip was covered by both men personally.
During his launch Mr Casey said he considered deleting the video showing him hitting the ball into the water, for which he drew immense criticism from people who raised concern about non-biodegradable plastic polluting our waters.
Mr Casey also levelled criticism at Mr Higgins, saying he believed he stopped being a “wonderful” President two or three years ago.
His criticism of Mr Higgins marks him apart from the other candidates in the field who have praised the incumbent’s record in office on several occasions. Mr Casey questioned why, in that case, they had opted to contest the election.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the campaign trail Seán Gallagher vowed to divest himself of all his business interests if elected to Áras an Uachtaráin.
Mr Gallagher made the
promise as he campaigned in Cork and Kerry in response to a high-profile High Court case involving one of his firms.
The businessman is the chief executive of Clyde Real Estate.
That firm is currently involved in a high-profile High Court dispute over a Blanchardstown property it owns in Dublin with one of its tenants, Nokia Ireland Ltd.
Nokia has alleged that Clyde is in breach of a lease agreement over the operation of an air conditioning system at the building – with Nokia telling the High Court that temperatures at the building soared to 27C at the height of the heatwave last June.
Almost 100 staff work at the building and complaints have been lodged over the premises being either too hot or too cold.
Clyde, for its part, wants to install a high-tech modern heating and air conditioning system at the old building.
Mr Gallagher insisted the case was a normal commercial dispute which would be resolved. But he stressed that he had taken a step back from his various business interests.
“I (will) divest myself of all my business interests (if elected),” he said.
Mr Gallagher insisted the current case before the High Court was very straightforward.