Peter Casey is 'only saying what everyone else is thinking’, says Cork supporter
Whether you think he’s bad or just plain mad, there’s no denying that Peter Casey fresh from his “Travellers are trespassers” controversy rouses passions.
Love was mainly on display in the English Market yesterday, with one woman, going only by the name of Marie, declaring: “I love him, I love him”.
She fell in love belatedly, on Wednesday, not because Peter’s the head off the mayor in Jaws, but because he had the cojones to say “what we are all thinking”.
“He’s only reflecting what 80% of the population thinks,” she said — a claim which is open to challenge, in the absence of any scientific data.
For her, his remarks — that Travellers are “basically people that are camping on someone else’s land” and that they are “not paying their fair share of taxes in society” — were the turning point.
“They’ve no right to tell him what his opinion should be. It’s a democratic society. There is too much tolerance,” she said, tongue-not-firmly-in-cheek.
Martha Hogan, from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was only thrilled to shake hands on camera.
“I feel he’s the only one being truthful. He’s only saying what everyone else is thinking. You can’t have an opinion anymore,” she said.
Besides, people on housing waiting lists would give their right arm for any one of the six four-bedroom houses Travellers have refused to move into in Thurles, Co Tipperary, until their horses are catered for.
Dinny Ryan, former Tipperary hurler, also from Nenagh, agrees with Peter “100%”.
“He’ll get a lot more votes now. People in Tipperary will back him. He’s my man now,” Dinny said.
Don McGinley, a visitor from Co Donegal, said Peter is a “straight-up, honest kind of guy,” although not necessarily one he would vote for. “I don’t agree with his views,” Don said.
Four young ladies who posed for the cameras were largely unaware of who Mr Casey is. Michael D is likely to be their choice, they said. Or Liadh Ní Riada.
Peter’s wife Helen, who stopped off for a sausage at O’Flynn’s gourmet sausage stall, said when she married him, she “signed on for not being bored” and laughed that “he over-delivers”.
“He’s a big kid, I describe him as ‘my sixth child’,” she said.
Does she agree with his big kid views? “We have heated debates, we chat about things. Peter has got himself to this point in his campaign because he is who he is. He’s just saying what other people are thinking.”
One stall owner was having none of it. Vourneen Fayer said her experience of Dragon’s Den candidates, in general, is negative. Casey, she said, is “trying to do a Trump on it”.
Bottom line? “Michael D for president. And no more photo ops in the English Market.”
