{"id":669355,"date":"2026-10-30T00:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669355\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T00:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:24:09","slug":"fine-gael-grassroots-seek-ardfheis-motion-to-confirm-centre-right-status-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669355\/","title":{"rendered":"Fine Gael grassroots seek ardfheis motion to confirm \u2018centre right\u2019 status \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of Fine Gael members <\/a>are pushing for the party to affirm its \u201ccentre-right\u201d status in an effort to distinguish it from what one describes as the \u201cwoke left\u201d.<\/p>\n

A draft motion has gained support from some branches and constituencies<\/a>, and has been submitted to headquarters for consideration for inclusion on the agenda for the Fine Gael Ardfheis being held on November 7th and 8th.<\/p>\n

It asks the assembly to affirm Fine Gael as a \u201ccentre-right party, in the European Christian Democratic tradition\u201d. <\/p>\n

A document urging support for the motion, which has been circulated among members, argues that occupying the centre right is a \u201cbulwark against the far right and populism\u201d. <\/p>\n

The motion is understood to have been authored at grassroots level and signed by councillors, as well as being approved by several branches and constituency organisations. <\/p>\n

The group of members which has been seeking support from the party\u2019s grassroots includes David Higgins, an economist and newspaper columnist. <\/p>\n

He told The Irish Times that the party should be willing to debate whether the \u201cprogressive centre\u201d label it uses to describe itself is appropriate for today\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018progressive\u2019 is now tainted by association with the woke left and most voters already perceive Fine Gael <\/a>to be on the right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document argues that Christian Democracy is an \u201cestablished European political tradition, with social justice and community at its core\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Whatever Simon Harris says, we are far from a \u2018blueprint\u2019 for a united IrelandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Higgins continued: \u201cChristian Democracy is the political outlook we share with the European People\u2019s Party [the political grouping of which Fine Gael is a member in the European Parliament], so we should have no fear about using the same label they put before their electorates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Fine Gael TDs are thought to harbour reservations about the text of the document, with concerns over how familiar Irish voters are with Christian Democracy and whether the Fine Gael brand could be diluted by a more overt association with a political persuasion that is more recognised in other European countries like Germany.<\/p>\n

The document states that a recent study by An Coimisi\u00fan Toghch\u00e1in <\/a>found that while 32 per cent of Irish voters consider themselves centre right, more than 27 per cent consider themselves centre left.<\/p>\n

The same survey showed Fine Gael is perceived by 55 per cent of voters as being centre right, while only 15 per cent of voters perceive the party to be to the left. <\/p>\n

It states that Fine Gael perceives its values to be personal responsibility and respecting that individuals, families and communities \u201cwant to be empowered and not constrained by the State. We believe in law and order, based on the institutions of the Irish State that Fine Gael has been instrumental in building over a century.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also argues that the State is an expression of the Irish nation, while respecting the traditions on the island and acknowledging the importance, as a small nation, of working with international partners \u2013 notably Europe and America, and backs a social market economy with a strong welfare state \u201cwhile valuing work and enterprise … and enabling the efficient operation of markets\u201d. <\/p>\n

A spokesman for Fine Gael said: \u201cWe received more than 440 motions from across the country for the two day ardfheis which will have at least 20 policy sessions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is simply not possible, nor feasible, to debate this amount of motions.<\/p>\n

\u201cA subcommittee, overseen by Fine Gael\u2019s executive council, is working on the final list of motions, which will be debated at the ardfheis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cl\u00e1r for our ardfheis, to be held in University College Cork, will be finalised and published next week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of Fine Gael members are pushing for the party to affirm its \u201ccentre-right\u201d status in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,283405,43,127936],"class_list":["post-669355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-cabinet-meeting","tag-news","tag-pa2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}