After the election, Renua called for “no more political correctness.”
Presidential candidate Peter Casey has been offered the leadership of Renua, as stated by the party’s only public representative, Councillor John Leahy.
Despite the fact that President Higgins received 822,566 first-preference votes, up from the previous record he set in the 2011 election with 701,101, Casey’s controversial remarks have grabbed the majority of the headlines.
As previously reported, in the aftermath of the election, the Dragons’ Den businessman claimed that he wanted to join Fianna Fáil and become the leader.
In conversation with the Sunday Independent, Casey revealed that he has aligned with Fianna Fáil and stated his intention to run for Taoiseach.
“I intend to run in the next general election in Donegal and I am going to become a Fianna Fáil TD — with a view to becoming Taoiseach at the head of a renewed and revitalised Fianna Fáil,” he said.
Since these claims were made, a number of Fianna Fail TD’s have distanced themselves from Casey’s remarks.
Mr Casey finished second in the presidential race, securing 23 per cent of first preference votes, and Renua have been supportive of Casey throughout.
Well well- fair play Peter Casey – no more political correctness please pic.twitter.com/hXq04WVbwb
— The Centre Party of Ireland (@CentrePartyIre) October 26, 2018
“I think Peter is very much in line to our way of thinking in terms of a lot of our core policies. Taxpayer first, entrepreneurship, and law and order would be three of our six pillars. Just by going on what we’ve seen in the presidential election, Peter would have a strong leniency towards those pillars,” said Mr Leahy in an interview with the Irish Times.
Leahy also confirmed that the the leadership of his party is “open to be contested”.
After the result was announced, Pavee Point released the following statement about Casey’s remarks and the election campaign.
“Pavee Point also wishes to thank all those candidates that fought the Presidential campaign fairly and without resorting to denigrating a vulnerable minority, even when it became clear that their campaigns would not be ultimately successful.
It adds: “There is no doubt that there was a protest vote in this election that played to the advantage of one candidate and that not all of this protest vote should be equated to being motivated by prejudice against Travellers. However, it is important that we also do not gloss over the fact that one candidate sought to exploit prejudice against a small and marginalised community – the Traveller community in Ireland – for his own political ends and the warning that this sends out to the political system in Ireland.”
Renua currently has no seats in Dáil Éireann.
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