Renua-The Daily Ledger

The Centre Party of Ireland, formerly Renua, is a fringe political party in Ireland. The party was launched on 13 March 2015, with former Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton as founding leader. Prior to its launch it had used the slogan Reboot Ireland. The name Renua was intended to suggest both the English Renew and the Irish Ré Nua "New Era". The party changed its name to the Centre Party of Ireland in 2023.

Renua was founded primarily by former members of Fine Gael who left that party because they refused to endorse Fine Gael's pro-abortion stance. Before the 2016 Irish general election, Renua had 3 members of the Dáil through defections, however, afterwards it was left with no national representation as none of its election candidates were successful. In the immediate aftermath, all its most prominent founder-members either returned to Fine Gael or left politics. However, by virtue of securing over 2% of the national vote, Renua received significant funding from the state, which allowed the party to continue to exist in a diminished form. The party has continued to contest both national and local elections in Ireland since 2016 but has met with little to no success, and currently has no elected representatives. In parallel, since 2016 the party's ideology has shifted from its initial centre-right position to a hard-right one.

Renua

History

Reform Alliance

After the 2011 general election a Fine Gael–Labour coalition government was formed. Lucinda Creighton of Fine Gael was appointed Minister of State for European Affairs. In 2013 Creighton defied the party whip on anti-abortion grounds to oppose the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. Creighton and others were as a consequence expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party; they formed a loose alliance called the Reform Alliance. Some TDs continued as ordinary members of Fine Gael, while others left the party completely.

Renua

Reboot Ireland

The forthcoming launch of a new political party was announced at a press conference on 2 January 2015 held by Creighton, Eddie Hobbs, a financial advisor and broadcaster, and John Leahy, an Independent member of Offaly County Council.

Renua

Foundation of Renua Ireland

The new party was launched in Dublin on Friday 13 March 2015, followed by media appearances by its leading members. Creighton and party president Eddie Hobbs appeared on RTÉ's The Late Late Show to explain their policies. Hobbs denied he was planning to stand for election, although the party's website claimed that he would be a candidate.

Its elected representatives on its foundation were TDs Lucinda Creighton, Billy Timmins and Terence Flanagan, Senators Paul Bradford and Mary Ann O'Brien, and Councillors John Leahy (Offaly) and Ronan McMahon. O'Brien, a Taoiseach's nominee to the Seanad, stated that she would not join the party until the general election campaign. Financial advisor Eddie Hobbs was announced as party president, and later announced that he would not stand for election.

Later recruits included councillors Patrick McKee (Kilkenny, elected for Fianna Fáil), James Charity (Galway, elected as an Independent), Frank Durkan (Mayo, elected as an Independent), and Keith Redmond (Fingal, elected for Fine Gael). Charity, who had joined on 20 May 2015, left Renua on 30 July. Journalist John Drennan joined as the party's director of communications and political strategy, while financial commentator Karl Deeter became the party's Ethics Officer.

The first Renua Ireland candidate to face election was Patrick McKee, in the Carlow–Kilkenny by-election on 22 May 2015. He finished fourth, with 9.5% of the first-preference vote.

Although the Irish abortion debate was what precipitated Creighton's defection from Fine Gael, the party initially stated that it was not taking a position on the issue and would allow members a free vote, before later stating under Leahy's leadership that it was an anti-abortion party that will ask all representatives to oppose a repeal of the Eighth Amendment, which places the life of the unborn on an equal footing to the life of the mother. After the passing of the abortion referendum, Renua stated it would support Vardakar's promise to keep abortion "safe, legal and RARE".