Renua

"Centre Party of Ireland" redirects here. For the 1932–1933 party, see National Centre Party (Ireland). For the pre-independence federalist party, see Irish Centre Party (1919).

Centre Party of Ireland
LeaderAndrew Kelly
ChairpersonSéamus Ó Riain
FounderLucinda Creighton
Founded13 March 2015
Split fromFine Gael
Headquarters5 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, Ireland
IdeologyAnti-abortion[1][2][3]
Christian democracy[4]
Social conservatism[5]
Economic liberalism[6]
Soft Euroscepticism[7]
Political positionRight-wing[8][9] to far-right[10][11]
Website
centreparty.ie

The Centre Party of Ireland, formerly Renua, is a fringe political party in Ireland.[12] The party was launched on 13 March 2015, with former Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton as founding leader.[13] 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".[14] The party changed its name to the Centre Party of Ireland in 2023.[15][16]

Renua was founded primarily by former members of Fine Gael who left that party because they refused to endorse Fine Gael's pro-choice stance in relation to abortion.[17] 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.[17] In the immediate aftermath, all its most prominent founder-members either returned to Fine Gael or left politics.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] In parallel, since 2016 the party's ideology has shifted from its initial centre-right position to a hard-right one.[10][11]

  1. ^ "Renua Ireland to identify as anti-abortion party". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  2. ^ "RENUA Ireland: 6 Pillars – Renua Ireland". Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  3. ^ "'It's time political parties get off the fence on abortion': Renua is now a pro-life party". 3 April 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  4. ^ Renua
  5. ^ Sarah Bardon (30 March 2017). "Renua Ireland to identify as anti-abortion party". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  6. ^ Renua Ireland to identify as anti-abortion party Archived 29 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The Irish Times. Published 30 March 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  7. ^ Paul Taggart, Aleks Szczerbiak (21 May 2018). "Putting Brexit into perspective: the effect of the Eurozone and migration crises and Brexit on Euroscepticism in European states" (PDF). Journal of European Public Policy: 1200. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  8. ^ "The Renua Project: How the party with real potential became a failed, fringe outfit – the Progressive Brief". Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Innocence and Experience | Broadsheet.ie". 13 July 2020. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Election 2020: Far-right candidates put in dismal showing". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  11. ^ a b Cunningham, Kevin (2 November 2021). "What's behind the emergence of the far right in Irish politics?". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference COVID-19 leaflets was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Downing, John (13 March 2015). "Revealed: Lucinda's new party is called Renua Ireland". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  14. ^ McGee, Harry (13 March 2015). "Renua: the making of a political party". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  15. ^ McQuinn, Cormac (4 April 2023). "Renua changes name to Centre Party of Ireland". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Register of Political Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. 26 April 2023. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Leahy, Pat (18 June 2016). "Renua: The long, painful demise of a political party". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  18. ^ McQuinn, Cormac (1 November 2018). "Renua boss paid €130,000 from State funds since taking helm". The Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  19. ^ Power, Jack (3 December 2020). "Watchdog 'concerned' at Renua failure to account for State cash". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.