Life outside politics with Lucinda Creighton

For now, she’s trying to convey to as many people as possible what Renua is all about and that involves putting in the miles travelling from county to county, and speaking to Weekend in a quiet pub lounge in the heart of Dublin 4.

“I’m beyond doubt that there’s an appetite for a new party,” she says.

“Confidence in the government parties is really quite low; there’s a desire for new ideas. There’s such a cloud of absolute cynicism out there. It’s really pervasive.

"I find it sad because I believe in politics. That’s what I hope we can renew.”

The demands of leading a new party are closely matched by the business of being a parent to a 17-month-old child.

Daughter Gwendolyn Nicola (the second name is in honour of her friend, the late Fine Gael TD Nicky McFadden) ensures that there’s very little downtime for Lucinda and husband senator Paul Bradford who, at 51, is 16 years her senior.

Not that this couple necessarily ‘do’ downtime: “Politics is our love and we talk about it all the time,” she says.

“It’s part of who we are. I’m passionate about my work and much of that is driven by thoughts of my daughter because I would like her to grow up in a functioning democracy, that has a functioning parliament — which we don’t have at the moment — or an Ireland that doesn’t descend into chaos for the seventh time in eight decades, or whatever. That motivates me.

“I’ve a really happy bouncy, little girl, she’s the light of my life,” she adds, “but maybe I’m not cut out to be at home full time, even if I wasn’t a politician, maybe that’s just not me.”

First elected a TD in 2007, at the age of 27, the Mayo barrister was seen as a leading light in Fine Gael and was tipped by many as a future leader. But disillusionment with the party, especially on its right-to-life stance, led her to quit in 2013.

Now, she is scathing about the party she once loved: “The Fine Gael that I believed in was all about standards, and probity and transforming the apparatus of State.

"That Fine Gael is not recognisable in the Fine Gael that’s in government. I say that in sorrow. It’s a real shame. It’s a culture shift that has occurred as a party that has really made it like the Fianna Fáil of old.

"I would never have imagined that possible. I believe they are indistinguishable now — and that’s what I’m hearing all the time.”

She says she will never return to Fine Gael and jokes that anyone placing a bet on such a scenario might as well burn their money. It’s a refrain she has to repeat time and time again.

“At the weekend, I was in Ballyhaunis and I met some of the local Fine Gael people and they were saying, ‘Ah, sure you’ll come back, won’t you?’ And I said to them, ‘Not a hope. I’ve no interest.’”

She says she has a “cordial” relationship with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

“I believe life is far too short to be falling out with people,” she says, “but I’m certainly not a fan of his style of governance. His style is old-fashioned, from a different era. I believe in transparency and reform.”

Although she had been a member of Dublin City Council for a number of years before being elected TD, life in Leinster House was an eye-opener — and not in a good way.

“I was still pretty shocked by the carry-on there,” she says, referring to absenteeism, shenanigans in the Dáil bar, and so on.

“That culture — I’ve never wanted to be part of it.”

The low representation of women in the Dáil rankles with her.

“It is difficult to entice women into politics, because they don’t play those games,” she says.

“They tend to be more interested in solutions and outcomes than machinations. There’s a confidence thing too: I approach women [about joining Renua] and they say, ‘I don’t think I can do that’, but I find their male counterparts have a much greater sense of belief.

"That’s something we really need to tackle in our young girls. We need to convince them that they can do anything.”

Despite her conviction that there is a hunger for an alternative to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, she concedes that there is no guarantee she will retain her seat in Dublin South East.

“If I don’t get re-elected, it will be disappointing, but I always said from the days I was first elected that I didn’t want to be a politician whose sole purpose was to be re-elected. There are plenty of sleeveens who get elected election after election and I don’t want to be one of them.”

Although initially opposed to the notion of gay marriage, she had a change of heart and says she was “delighted” when the Marriage Equality bill was so resoundingly passed.

Her views on abortion are not for changing, though: “I simply believe that every human being has a right to life, whether it’s a prisoner on death row or whether it’s a baby that’s about to be born.

"To me, they’re all human beings and they deserve the same equality, fairness, and treatment before the law. I don’t believe that we can choose who gets to live and who doesn’t.

“It’s very trendy to be swept along by the tide of popular current opinion, but it’s a really sensitive tricky situation, and it’s not going to go away.

"If you look at states in America where they have legalised abortion, it hasn’t ended the scandals that surrounded it.”

She says she hopes that those who may have a diametrically opposed viewpoint, will at least recognise in her a politician with conviction.

“Renua is not interested in being populist, saying people don’t have to pay for things when of course they do,” she says.

“We’re trying to be responsible. We want to offer people hope that’s about stable growth that’s not mad economics.”

The Central Bank’s ruling that would-be property buyers require 20% of deposits as opposed to the long-standard 10% have knocked her chances — for now — of buying a home, but it’s something she endorses.

“It makes it much harder for us to buy a house,” she says, “but I’d rather not buy a house than one I can’t afford and that’s the lesson that we should have learnt from the past. But the Government disagreed with [Central Bank governor Patrick] Honohan which is quite extraordinary...

“Remember the Bertie Ahern line about suicide? We’ve very similar tones coming from the Government, labels like begrudger and so on.

We have to keep reminding people what led us to the crash. That’s what responsible parties do. Have we learnt nothing?”

That two well-paid politicians are renting a home in Dublin (albeit in Sandymount) rather than owning their own property, is likely to raise eyebrows.

“I would never look for sympathy. I’m well paid as a TD, but certainly the cuts and tax increases have affected everybody including TDs. We have a daughter in creche and the cost of childcare in Dublin is massive.”

Lucinda Creighton is a creature of habit and most mornings are kick-started by an intense gym session.

“I love spinning [classes] because you’re in and out in 50 minutes and it’s really hard work. I do body-pumping too. I run as well although I don’t love it — I do it to keep fit. I did the marathon a few years ago, but never again: my knees were banjaxed.

“I ride horses — that’s my passion — and my main interest is showjumping. I love it. The Dublin Horse Show is the highlight of my year. Last year, we had our holidays in France for the World Equestrian Games.”

She jokes that her husband gets “dragged along”.

A voracious reader, she says she feels “guilty because there are so many reports that keep accumulating”.

Her interests range from books on the Second World War to whatever is on the Booker shortlist.

“I wanted to be a writer at one stage,” she says, “and I might yet.”

Like her former government colleague Alan Shatter? “I wouldn’t be into the steamy side,” she quips, in reference to the soft eroticism of Shatter’s novel, Laura.

“I’ll leave the creative side of it to Alan. Fair play to him — the man can turn his hand to anything.”

The months leading up to the next general election are likely to be among the busiest periods of her life, and she’s under no illusion about the size of the task.

“I’d have friends who are more engaged by [reality TV family] the Kardashians than any politician, so there’s a lot of work to be done.”