Midlands-North-WestEuropean Election candidate Peter Casey has said that the only way to resolve the ongoing problems facing rural Ireland is by “reducing the powers in Leinster House and Brussels”.
He said, “We need to keep the Chief Executive of the County Council on their toes at all times to ensure they are implementing local projects as quickly and as effectively as possible.
“One solution I believe passionately in is that the Chief Executive of the County Council should report directly to the Cathaoirleach and not to the Minister for State in Local Government – and the County Council should be able to fire him if he or she is not doing a good enough job.
“I am all about trying to return power to the local government – taking it away from the European parliament. And that’s why I am saying that I want people to vote for me and other like-minded independents.
“I want to see us dilute the power of the EU, reduce the power of Dail Eireann, and give more power back to where it belongs, i.e., local government.
“And that would include abolishing An Bord Pleanala, for example, and bring the power back to the County Council in a meaningful way and give the local people the opportunity to vote on important local issues of concern in Midlands-North-West.”
The former Dragon Dens’ star added, “We need to focus on taking power away from the EU and bring it back home because restoring Ireland’s sovereignty is really at the heart of my proposal here.
“I cannot stress enough how important it is to increase the level of power at a local level. The County Council should be able to fire the Chief Executive if he is not doing what they are instructing him to carry out.
“I will give you one good example of how my proposal to radically shake things up would help improve Midlands-North-West. We have too many empty houses all around the country. The Chief Executive should be on top of that, coming up with creative and concrete solutions for the 200,000 empty homes that we have all around Ireland. Why aren’t they doing that right now while we face a massive housing crisis?”
The successful businessman said “the problem hit home” to him while he was out on the campaign trail.
Peter Casey explained, “I’ve driven over 5,000 miles during the past two weeks and I’ve gone through all these small towns and you would not believe the huge number of derelict buildings all around Ireland.
“In the last two censuses, we have a situation where approximately 50 percent of the same properties are vacant. In other words, over half of the properties that were vacant ten years ago are still vacant today. How is that progress in any language? It is just obscene that these properties are going to waste.
“The solution is to give people a vacancy tax incentive if the property in question has been vacant for two years. If the County councils had power and the Chief Executive was doing their job to the best of their ability these problems would be already solved.
“If a property has been empty for over two years, the Council should tell the proprietor that they have six months to fix up the property or otherwise it will be seized and auctioned off and the Council will keep half the proceeds and give you the other half.
“If elected, I promise to advocate vigorously for policies that do address immediate concerns for my constituency. I will be proposing such common sense approaches to the European parliament.
“The Midlands North West constituency needs a successful businessman and not a failed politician to represent them in Brussels. That is why I am asking for your number one vote on Friday, June 7.”