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Donal ("Donie") Cassidy (born 15 September 1945) is an Irish businessman and Fianna Fáil politician. He is currently a member of the 23rd Seanad Éireann, elected in the 2007 election. He is a former Teachta Dála, who represented Westmeath from 2002 to 2007.
Cassidy was born in Castlepollard in County Westmeath. He came to prominence in Ireland through the showband 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 whose enjoyed success inside and outside of Ireland.
He first became involved in politics in 1982 when he was elected as a Fianna Fáil Senator on 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 constituency of Westmeath at the 2002 election, taking the seat of sitting TD and Government Minister Mary O'Rourke. This created a rift between the two politicians and Cassidy lost his seat to O'Rourke in 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 of Westmeath due to the redrafting of the constituency did not help him. On 22 June 2007 Cassidy was nominated by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to Seanad Éireann and created Leader of the Seanad for the remaining weeks of the 22nd Seanad's existence. Cassidy was subsequently elected to the Labour Panel in the 2007 Seanad general election. He is currently Leader of the Seanad.
[edit] Business interests
Cassidy owns two Dublin hotels and is building another. He also owned the National Wax Museum in Dublin. He also owns Celtic Note, a specialist Irish music store on Dublins Nassau Street and since 1984 has had the franchise to sell CD's and DVD's 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 Horse'. His poorly-fitting nylon wig has become a badge of honour, removed only for state funerals and St Patrick's Day parades.
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