Offaly County Councillor John Leahy says he wants to become leader of Renua Ireland and that he has no interest in reverting to being an Independent public representative.

“I’m going to take the bull by the horns. It would be the easiest thing to go back to being an Independent,” he told his local radio station Midlands 103.

“I believe I signed up to a lot of things, I can turn things around and I’m going to see it through.”

Cllr Leahy says the party needs to change its message after failing to win a single seat in the general election.

“It is going to take a lot of work and it is going to take time,” he said. “We owe it to the membership and I owe it to the people who voted for me.”

He said: “We need to get the message right, the message we got out wasn’t right. . . If I become leader I’m going to change that message, and change it as quickly as possible.”

Former TD Lucinda Creighton’s role as leader is uncertain because the Constitution states that the head of a party must be an elected politician.