Lucinda Creighton has launched her Renua Ireland party with a pledge to liberate  the country from the politics of broken promises.

The party would be about open politics, she said at the launch at the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.

The former Fine Gael junior minister said there was a need to liberate politics from failed policies.

Renua expects to field between 50 and 60 candidates in the next general election.

Ms Creighton said Renua would be relying on the goodwill of the public  for funding.

Her party colleague Eddie Hobbs also ruled out any restoration of public sector pay. 

The day did not go without a hitch for Renua. Former Fine Gael member Terence Flanagan, the Dublin North-East TD, struggled to answer some questions about the new party during an interview on RTE's Drivetime.

Separately, it also emerged that Independent TDs Shane Ross, John Halligan, Michael Fitzmaurice, Tom Fleming and Finian McGrath are organising a meeting with Independent councillors.

The talks, which will take place in Tullamore in a fortnight, will be with a view to building a shared political platform.

Earlier on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O'Rourke, Ms Creighton said her party was focused on having an open government policy.

"I would refer to this new policy as government in the sunshine, a completely open policy where there is no need for Cabinet confidentiality, except of course for security issues.

"I think it will have a massively positive impact. The idea that the masses can't be trusted with information is nonsense."

Ms Creighton explained the choice of name was inspired by the words "new beginning".

The Dublin South-East TD said Renua was different in how it was formed and funded.

She said the party was open-minded and would have an open position in matters of conscience.

In relation to the party's position on the upcoming same-sex marriage referendum, she said she would personally be voting in favour of it "but others are free to make their own choice when voting".

Renua believed in independence of thought and challenging consensus, she added.

The party put forward 16 policy proposals.

Ms Creighton said the minutes of all Cabinet meetings should be published within 48 hours and Renua would introduce term limits for government ministers.

She said Renua was committed to lifting childcare costs by transferring maternity leave into parental leave and by rolling out a national network of community-based childcare facilities.

Ms Creighton said 3,500 people had contacted Renua to get involved with the party and 180 people want to become election candidates.

She said one of the first steps her party would take was to completely overhaul the whip system.

"A huge element is to release politics from the shackle of the whip system. It is not applied to any other democratic state globally. It stifles independent thinking and good debate and leads us to the position where we end up with failures like Irish Water."

She added that they were also committed to changing the electoral system which would require constitutional amendment.

In terms of funding, she said it was going to be a huge challenge.

"We will be relying on the goodwill and generosity of the Irish people. There is already an appetite. We will be doing it in a transparent fashion and publishing our accounts."

In relation to candidates, Ms Creighton said she wanted to see far more women in politics and would be hoping for a good gender mix in the party.

She has appealed to women who were interested in getting involved in politics to get in touch.

She said the focus for the party was the next general election.

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One, Senator Paul Bradford said that over the next number of months Renua would produce detailed costed policies.

Mr Bradford, who is married to Ms Creighton, said the party did not know the exact figure of how much it would cost to end the higher rate of tax for the self-employed but it would run to hundreds of millions. 

Earlier, the deputy leader of the new party said he was not expecting any more sitting TDs to defect at present.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Billy Timmins said the party was working hard to build up from the ground.