Whilst the date of the upcoming general election has not yet
been set, Renua, the new political party is first out of the traps in
announcing its manifesto. See RTE report
Pro-lifers had great hopes of this party as it was set up by
Lucinda Creighton who stood by her convictions and voted against the
pro-abortion, Protection of Life in Pregnancy, legislation at the high personal
cost of ejection from the Fine Gael parliamentary party and loss of her
ministerial post prior to setting up the new party
There was considerable dismay in pro-life and
pro-family circles however at Ms. Creighton’s statement in February 2015 prior
to the same sex marriage referendum that she was a supporter of the marriage
equality referendum and she intended to vote in favour of it.
Ms Creighton in presenting the Renua manifesto at a press
conference claimed no party would have a clear-cut majority after the election
and the question voters had to ask was "who would be their watchdog in
government?".
The new manifesto concentrates on tax reform and other
political issues but the meeting was
told By Ms. Creighton that that the party would not be taking a view on the
question of liberalising abortion legislation and that
there were other social issues facing the electorate.
Clearly there are different opinions in the new party on the
pro-life issue.
On a show of hands 14 of the eighteen party members
indicated they opposed removal of the 8th amendment (the pro-life
amendment) from the constitution.
The good news is that 14 out of the 18 Renua party members
standing for election appear to be pro-life.
