Renua unveil first eight election hopefuls
Already known candidates, former Fine Gael TDs Lucinda Creighton, Terence Flanagan, and Billy Timmins, children’s rights campaigner Shane Dunphy and the Jack and Jill Foundation’s Jonathan Irwin have been joined by Ronan McMahon, John Leahy, and Mailo Power.
They will run in Dublin Bay South, Dublin Bay North, Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare South, Dublin South West, Offaly, and Waterford respectively.
Ronan McMahon is the late son of Fine Gael TD and senator Larry McMahon, who served in the Dáil from 1973 to 1982 and the Seanad from 1983 until 1992.
He was elected to South Dublin County Council in last year’s local elections and placed third after the first count of the 2014 Dublin South West by-election to replace Labour TD Patrick Nulty.
Fellow Independent councillor John Leahy has also decided to join after being elected to the Laois-Offaly county council in 2009 and 2014, while entrepreneur Mailo Power will be a first time candidate in Waterford.
Meet our first official General Election Candidates. #TeamRENUA pic.twitter.com/nFncwldRjw
— RENUA IRELAND (@RENUAIreland) June 14, 2015
The eight official candidates are expected to be joined in the coming weeks by the party’s unsuccessful Carlow-Kilkenny by-election candidate councillor Patrick McKee and councillor James Charity in Galway West.
Renua still intends to run a candidate in every constituency, with a large number of these positions to be finalised within a month.
Meanwhile, another new party mooted in recent days consisting of Independent TDs Stephen Donnelly, Catherine Murphy, Roisín Shortall, and Independent senator Katherine Zappone is due to be launched within weeks.
