WHEN RENUA UNVEILED its latest member today, one Labour TD just couldn’t resist having a pop.
Dublin councillor Keith Redmond confirmed that he had left his former party, Fine Gael, after becoming fed up with its “nanny state tendencies”.
But soon after news of his defection broke, Minister of State for Equality Aodhán Ó Ríordáin tweeted a less than approving judgement on the move, saying Redmond had joined a party that thinks ”teenage pregnant rape victims should do what we say”.
The self-described libertarian views of Renua’s newest elected representative, he seemed to suggest, are in contradiction with prominent party members’ opposition to the eighth amendment.
Renua general election candidate Patrick McKee, who supports abortion in limited circumstances, was one of several people to criticise the Labour minister’s remark.
Renua has its genesis in the expulsion of leader Lucinda Creighton from Fine Gael after she voted against abortion legislation in 2013.
However, the party has said it will allow a free vote on issues of conscience.
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