Peter Casey finished second in race to be Irish president
The move comes after locals objected to his attempt to build a three-story apartment block in Inishowen on the same site opposite the North West Golf Club at Luddan, Buncrana.
Concerns have been raised by objectors that the scale of the building would not be in keeping with other dwellings in the area and would result in “severe overlooking” of houses in nearby estates.
Mr Casey, who has a house in Greencastle, subsequently withdrew the application in January.
However, he told today’s Irish Independent he is submitting a new planning application with a different design to convert the existing building to house refugees.
“There is an urgent, much greater need to accommodate Ukrainians,” he said.
If permission is granted, the new development would house up to 50 refugees. The former Dragon’s Den star said it would be a short-term arrangement for two years and will operate on a not-for-profit basis.
Mr Casey, who is the executive chairman of Claddagh Resources, the US-based recruitment company he founded, stood in the 2018 presidential campaign and finished second to Michael D Higgins with 342,727 votes – 23% of the votes cast.
He also ran in the 2020 general election in the Donegal constituency, but was eliminated on the fourth count, taking 1,142 first preference votes.
He became a controversial figure during the presidential campaign for comments he made about Travellers who he said were “basically people camping in other people’s land”.
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