Donie Cassidy

Cassidy was born in Castlepollard in County Westmeath. He came to prominence in Ireland through the show band scene. A saxophone player with Jim Tobin and the Firehouse, he moved into showbusiness management. He was the manager of Foster and Allen, a popular singing duo that enjoyed success inside and outside Ireland.

He first became involved in politics in 1982 when he was elected as a Fianna Fáil Senator for the Labour Panel. He was a member of Westmeath County Council from 1985 until 2003 at which point he resigned from the council due to the abolition of the dual mandate.

Cassidy was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Westmeath constituency at the 2002 general election, taking the seat of sitting TD and Government Minister Mary O'Rourke.[2] This created a rift between the two politicians and Cassidy lost his seat to O'Rourke at the 2007 general election when both candidates contested the Longford–Westmeath constituency. The fact that Cassidy lost most of his home base of Castlepollard and north Westmeath due to the redrawing of the constituency did not help him. On 22 June 2007, Cassidy was nominated by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to Seanad Éireann and was appointed Leader of the Seanad for the remaining weeks of the 22nd Seanad's existence. Cassidy was subsequently elected to the Labour Panel at the 2007 Seanad general election and was Leader of the Seanad until March 2011. He lost his seat at the 2011 Seanad election.

Cassidy owns three Dublin hotels including one on the former site of the National Wax Museum. He also owns Celtic Note, a specialist Irish music store on Dublin's Nassau Street and since 1984 has had the franchise to sell CDs and DVDs at Dublin Airport. He also owns several buildings in Mullingar. His other interests include record and music publishing companies. He owns the publishing rights to many well known songs such as 'Grace' and 'My Lovely Rose of Clare'.

In a debate in Seanad Éireann on 10 April 2008, Cassidy stated the following about house prices in Ireland: "We have a duty to tell first-time house buyers, young couples with no previous experience, that there is unbelievable value in the marketplace today. It will not last forever. It is never the wrong time to do the right thing. I offer the House the benefit of my experience and my opinion which is all any Member can do. I will remind the House, perhaps in 12 or 18 months, when prices have again increased by 25% or 30%, that they were told this by the Leader of the House on this historic day, the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement."[4] In the event, 12 months later the average house price had decreased by 21.8%.[5]