The Renua Ireland leader says the party wants to be the Irish people's "watchdog in government" after the election.

Launching the party's election manifesto this morning, Lucinda Creighton claimed other political parties had "played with the economy" for the past 20 years.

Alongside previously announced plans for a flat rate income tax, also included is a three strikes rule in criminal justice, where a third serious offence would automatically see a life sentence.

Renua is also proposing reform of the Leaving Certificate that would see final exams only account for 30% of the grade.

We have created one of the most ambitious programmes for government - https://t.co/3pu1Pus6Qc … #RENUAmanifesto

— RENUA IRELAND (@RENUAIreland) January 4, 2016

Deputy Creighton says the tougher crime sentencing proposal is not going over the top:

"What we consider to be heavy-handed is the terrorisation of people in their homes across the country. You don't have to travel too far to find a huge number of our elderly population of vulnerable people - especially in isolated rural areas, but not exclusively. Even in my own constituency crime rates are climbing all the time unfortunately, so it is an urban and a rural problem. That is where the heavy-handedness exists."