The Catholic Democrats was a minor

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

that existed between 1995 and 2019. It was initially known as the National Party and later as the Christian Democrats before adopting its final name.

History

It was founded in December 1995 by Nora Bennis, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

values and

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

activist. Bennis had attained approximately 5% of the vote in the 1994 European election in the Munster constituency, running under the ''Family First'' label. Bennis played a role in the campaign against the divorce referendum of that year, which passed with 50.3% of vote in favour. She had run a conservative pressure group called Family Solidarity. The creation of the party by the

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

-based Bennis caused tension in conservative Catholic circles, because it followed the establishment of the

Christian Solidarity Party The Christian Solidarity Party () was a minor political party in Ireland. It had no representation at local or national level. Founded in 1991 as the Christian Principles Party, it stood candidates in the 1991 local elections, it was reformed a ...

by Gerard Casey and other

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

-based activists, who named their party to show support for Bennis' group. The National Party aimed to attract the support of those who support traditional Catholic

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

in legislation. The party's policies also included financial support for rural communities and a smaller role for the state in economic affairs. The party had no electoral success at any level during its existence. The party was renamed the Christian Democrats in 1998, and then again during the course of 2012 as the Catholic Democrats. As of 2016, it was listed on the Register of Political Parties as "Catholic Democrats (The National Party)". They campaigned against the children referendum in 2012. Theresa Heaney from Cork ran, unsuccessfully, for the party in the

2014 European election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielde ...

in the

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constituency. The party ran three candidates in the 2016 general election; Bennis in Limerick City, Heaney in Cork South-West and Noel McKervey in Longford-Westmeath. None of them were elected. By October 2016 they no longer appeared on the Register of Political Parties. In November 2017, the

Standards in Public Office Commission The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) () is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Government of Ireland, Irish Government under the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. It replaced the Public Offices Commission which h ...

stated that no statements of accounts had been received from the Catholic Democrats, in breach of the Electoral Act. In February 2019 party founder and lynchpin Nora Bennis died, signalling the final demise of a party which had already begun to wind down.

General election results

European election results

References

1995 establishments in Ireland Catholic political parties Conservative parties in Ireland Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland Eurosceptic parties in Ireland Political parties disestablished in 2019 Political parties established in 1995 Right-wing politics in Ireland {{Ireland-party-stub

History

General election results

European election results

See also

References