Creighton unveils plans for new party (as yet unnamed)

Lucinda Creighton has formally unveiled plans for a new political party to be fully launched within eight weeks.

Former minister of State and Fine Gael deputy Creighton was joined by television personality Eddie Hobbs and independent Offaly councillor John Leahy to announce an intention to launch the new party in the spring.

It is now 18 months since Lucinda Creighton left the Fine Gael parliamentary party. Despite saying at the time she was "Fine Gael to her core", today she is officially unveiling her plans to start a new party that will compete against Fine Gael at the next election.

Ms Creighton said: "We will not live or die by opinion polls. Politicians (and) political parties live or die by the will of the people and we will live or die by the will of the people at the next (General) Election…I can’t predict that.

"It would be foolish to pretend I can predict how many seats our new political party can or will win at the next election."

The party to be launched later in the spring does not yet have a name, but it does have a hashtag - @rebootireland, summarising its ambition for a fresh start for politics.

An accompanying website says the new political party will "champion human inventiveness".

The party will have four major policy platforms, but says its members will not be under a party whip for votes on "matters of conscience" such as same-sex marriage.

The involvement of Eddie Hobbs is to ensure the party has a pro-business slant, but it also aims, in its own words, to "make the public sector public".

Alongside the promise of political reform, the party says it will have a clear social conscience, promising to measure government with a "clear social target" and to be a strong voice for rural Ireland.

Independent Offaly councillor John Leahy also joined Ms Creighton at this morning's launch.

Deputy Creighton said the new party would be launched in eight weeks time, with a series of meetings around the country before then.

Irish Examiner political correspondent Shaun Connolly said: "(Eddie Hobbs) has been steering people away from the idea that he had any interest in getting into mainstream politics and yet here he is as the founder of this new political partyl."

Ms Creighton said the, as yet, unnamed party could “radically change” how the country is run.

She said: “I am here because I believe Irish people deserve a genuine choice at the next election. It is my intention to provide that choice.

“Since last April I have been working with an ever expanding group of highly motivated professional volunteers – so that we can radically change how we run this country.”

Ms Creighton was one of seven Fine Gael TDs and senators who voted against the Government in 2013 on controversial abortion legislation.

Four principles on which the new party is to be founded were announced at the Marker Hotel in Dublin.

They include a promise for political reform, a pro-enterprise stance and a promise to “give politics back to the people”.

An invitation was also issued to members of the public to join.

Ms Creighton added: “We want to ’reboot Ireland’ and we want those who are as passionate about this country as we are to join us on this mission.”

Planning for the new party has been underway since last April and more than 100 people have been working in a voluntary capacity in areas such as policy, research, IT, communications and party structure, it was claimed.

Economist and presenter, Eddie Hobbs said he had signed up because he felt let down by traditional parties.

He said: “The traditional parties have failed to grasp that the democratic revolution of the last general election was not an event but a process and are now being deserted in droves by people searching for a new way ahead – and that includes me, a father of four children, someone working, contributing and running small businesses here since I was sixteen – that’s 36 years ago.”

Meanwhile, John Leahy said he wanted to tackle the demise of rural Ireland.

He said: “I, like many others in this political movement, see the demise of rural Ireland unfold before our very eyes. A modern Ireland should be proud of its rural traditions.

“This new movement will embrace the views of rural Ireland. We will act on the issue of rural demise in a focussed and determined manner.”