Renua
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.
Centre Party of Ireland | |
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Leader | Vacant |
Chairperson | Séamus Ó Riain |
Founder | Lucinda Creighton |
Founded | 13 March 2015 |
Headquarters | 5 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, Ireland |
Ideology | Anti-abortion Christian democracy Social conservatism Economic liberalism Soft Euroscepticism |
Political position | Right-wing to far-right |
Website | |
centreparty | |
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.