News

The Social Democrats today publish the motion on Workers’ Rights that they will bring forward in their first Private Members’ time in the 33rd Dáil. The motion will be debated on Wednesday, July 15, at 8pm. The motion aims to increase protection for workers across a range of areas, including low-pay, precarious work, collective bargaining […]

Gary Gannon TD said, “News of increased paid parents leave today is welcome, even though it does not fully address the calls for twelve weeks additional leave for women who had maternity leave during lockdown. These women didn’t have access to many postnatal supports, and the three additional weeks will not fully address these issues.” […]

Today’s announcement by the Government of an additional three weeks paid parental leave can only be described as a cynical move by Government designed to give the impression of supporting parents, whilst in fact parents are being short-changed, said SocDems spokesperson for Children, Jennifer Whitmore TD. Whitmore said: “A key commitment given in the 2019 […]

All 18 Social Democrats Councillors have jointly signed a letter to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, urging him to provide clarity on the financial security of local authorities in light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The party’s Councillors are calling on Minister O’Brien to prioritise support for local government […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall has expressed grave concerns at the Government’s delay in publishing a green list of countries that are deemed safe or low-risk. Speaking earlier today, Deputy Shortall said we now have “the worst of both worlds” when it comes to the serious risk posed by tourists travelling into Ireland from countries […]

Holly Cairns TD, the Social Democrats spokesperson for Agriculture and the Marine, has called for a task force to review the meat processing industry. After hearing from representatives of the Migrants’ Rights Centre and Meat Industry Ireland, Deputy Cairns believes that the levels of uncertainty around the Covid clusters in some plants and concerns for […]

The co-leader of the Social Democrats and TD for Kildare North, Catherine Murphy, has welcomed the National Transport Authority (NTA) progress report on the Royal Canal and Grand Canal Greenways. In response to a Parliamentary Question tabled by Deputy Murphy, the NTA outlined that works on all Dublin City sections of the Royal Canal are […]

Last year more than 4,300 people were hospitalised with the seasonal flu in Ireland – more than the total number hospitalised so far with Covid-19. Speaking in today’s Dáil, Róisín Shortall, TD and co-leader of the Social Democrats, called on Government to secure additional supply of the flu vaccine to counteract a surge of flu […]

The co-leader of the Social Democrats, Catherine Murphy TD, today called on the Taoiseach to outline how prepared the Government was to deal with a second wave of Covid-19, should it occur, in the nursing home sector. Speaking in the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions, Deputy Murphy said: “We now know from the numbers of clusters […]

Social Democrats TD for Wicklow Jennifer Whitmore has today offered her support to a group of mothers who formed the Extend Maternity Campaign and who are calling for the extension of Maternity Leave and pay by three months. Deputy Whitmore met with campaigners and members of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) outside Leinster […]