Renua changes name to Centre Party of Ireland

Renua is changing its name to The Centre Party of Ireland, eight years after it was founded.

The party has struggled to win support from voters and it currently has no elected representatives.

The intention to change the party name from its official title of Renua Ireland was recorded in the State’s official gazette, Iris Oifigiúil, on Friday.

Art O’Leary, the chief executive of the new Electoral Commission, provided notice of the change of name in the March 31st edition in his capacity as the Registrar of Political Parties.

Europe’s political divide over the return of wolves

---

Maureen Dowd: Trump’s line about being martyred always seemed risible but I guess it works with some people

---

Breda O'Brien: Are the mistakes of Junior Cycle reform about to be repeated in the Leaving Cert?

---

Kevin Barry: ‘I didn’t publish a book till I was 37. I thought I must have been an awful f*cking waster’

---

Renua has been without an elected representative since Offaly councillor John Leahy stood down as leader in the wake of a disappointing 2019 local election campaign.

The party ran 26 candidates and Mr Leahy – now an Independent councillor – was the only one to win a seat.

It won no seats in the 2020 General Election.

Renua was formed in 2015 after a fallout in Fine Gael over abortion.

TDs Lucina Creighton, Billy Timmins and Terence Flanagan and senator Paul Bradford, Ms Creighton’s husband, were expelled from Fine Gael for opposing the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

They came together to form Renua with Eddie Hobbs appointed as its president and financial commentator Karl Deeter as ethics officer.

The party ran 26 candidates in the 2016 general election but won no seats.