Businessman Gavin Duffy has criticised his former Dragon’s Den colleague Peter Casey for his tactics during the presidential campaign.

Mr Duffy looks likely to finish last when all the votes are tallied in the election this evening.

That honour looked likely to go to Mr Casey for much of the campaign – until his comments on Traveller ethnicity saw him move from around 2% to 20% in the polls.

Speaking as he arrived at Dublin Castle this afternoon, Mr Duffy said: “What I am hearing from the commentary today is that there was some great strategy,” he said.

“The Peter Casey I know is actually, believe or not, a decent guy.

“If there was a strategy, you would have to attribute some evil genius to him, which I don’t think he deserves.

“He was throwing grenades repeatedly; one of them was going to explode and it did and it drove him up in the polls.

“I would say to the Travelling community let’s not all of us over-react to it.

“We had six candidates in the race – and I want to say to all of them – five did not go to that area of populism.”

Earlier Mr Duffy insisted he had no regrets over his participation in the campaign – and insisted his poor showing in the polls had not damaged his public relations business.

“The general comment, if I was to judge by social media, was that I conducted myself with dignity and respect for others throughout,” he said.

He said things might have been different if he had previously held political office.

“There is a certain audacity in going for the presidency if you haven’t held any other office,” he said.

“I accept that and that was a factor here - certainly as regards myself.

“I think the people, if you are running for the presidency, the like to see some other track record as well.”

You can follow our live blog as the latest declarations are announced throughout the evening at Dublin Castle.