LUCINDA CREIGHTON’S NEW party is called Renua Ireland.
The announcement was made at its official launch this morning. A website for Renua Ireland has already been launched.
Creighton is leader of the party, while Deputy Billy Timmins will be her deputy.
Party leader Creighton said that Renua already has 180 people who have applied to become candidates for the party.
What does Renua stand for?
Much of the launch was spent stressing how different Renua – whose name means ‘new era’ in Irish – is from the existing parties.
“It’s time to embrace a new form of politics; a style of politics that will inspire a new conversation, a different conversation,” Creighton said.
Renua is different in absolutely every respect to the old way of doing business.
She said it is different in how it is formed; how it is funded; how the members will work to engage the empowered citizens of the country, and in how they are “open in a variety of ways”.
We are open-minded. We are tolerant of difference.
Renua is open in matters of personal conscience, said Creighton, which she described as not a PR line or spin, and is “genuinely different”.
Hobbs, meanwhile, said that “Ireland as we know it is gone”, and that Renua is “the beginning of the first Irish open political party”.
Ireland can become in a very short amount of time “one of the best-governed countries in the world”, said Hobbs.
He invited people to join the party and “stay with us for the decades to come”.
It’s understood that around 3,500 people have already registered with the party.
A video was also shown during the launch, with Karl Deeter named as the party’s ethics officer.
Creighton said they want to create a “truth and reconciliation process” in Ireland, for people who “have been victims through our oppressive past in our country”.
She said that they want to create a genuine way to engage at national level, and that they want to learn from mistakes in the past.
One big area in which the party will be trying to make a change is childcare, with Creighton saying they will “transform maternity into paternity leave”, giving parents more choice and flexibility.
She said Renua is committed to lifting the cost and stress of childcare from parents. They also intend on rolling out a network of community-based childcare facilities.
“I believe in my country”
When questioned on whether the party was actually a ‘re-elect Lucinda’ party, Creighton said that it would be easier for her to stay as an independent and canvas for votes.
But she said: “I actually believe in my country, I believe in our citizens, I believe passionately in the transformative power of politics.”
She said she was starting Renua “because I have a little daughter who I want to have a future in this country and not be exported like my contemporaries and a huge swathe of the young generation who have been forced to go [to different countries]“.
The easy option for me would be just continue doing what all the other independents are doing and ensure I get re-elected and hope things bounce [the independents'] way.
Funding
When asked about funding, Creighton said that the party members have funded everything so far themselves, and that Renua has “no money”. It doesn’t have a bank account but hopes to have one once it meets the criteria.
She said that the party will have to be “inventive and creative”, which is part of its ethos.
Changing the system
Creighton, who had to leave Fine Gael after voting against the whip over the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, stressed numerous times that Renua allows freedom of conscience.
She also said that she has “tried to change the system from within”, and discovered that “without any doubt that it is impossible”.
It is not capable of being renewed within the existing parties.
“We believe in encouraging independence of thought,” said Creighton. ”We believe thinking independently is a good thing.”
The announcement is being streamed live on the Renua Ireland website, as a way of demonstrating its openness as a political entity.
- with reporting from Hugh O’Connell
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