News

Cork South West TD, Holly Cairns, Social Democrat spokesperson on Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, highlighted the need for a just transition and creativity to be at the heart of climate action on agriculture and fishing. Speaking in the Dáil on the government’s Annual Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development, Holly stressed that […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children Jennifer Whitmore has reiterated her call for the retention of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The call comes amid repeated suggestions in the media that the existing Department should merge with the Department of Education and a separate new Department for Higher Education be formed instead.  Whitmore says […]

Róisín Shortall, TD and co-leader of the Social Democrats, has spoken out against this Friday’s (12 June 2020) deadline for patients and family members of deceased patients to opt out of a study which will collect tissue from decades of brain surgery. She is calling on the Minister for Health to extend the opt-out deadline […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Deputy Jennifer Whitmore has today welcomed the announcement by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs of a funding package of €75m to the childcare sector to help facilities reopen at the end of the month. Whitmore welcomes the inclusion of a once-off grant totalling €375,000 to be provided for childminders. […]

Social Democrats Councillor, and professional youth worker Aidan Farrelly has called for greater assurances from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone, who this week refused to rule out funding cuts to the services offered to children and young people.  “It seems that youth services throughout Ireland are facing as turbulent a post-COVID […]

Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson and T.D. for Dublin Bay North,  Cian O’Callaghan has called on the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to regulate short term lets in response to the sudden rise in Airbnb-style units that are available for longer-term rent on Daft.ie. Deputy Cian O’Callaghan said: ‘The Daft.ie Housing Market Report released today (Tuesday 9th […]

Cork South West TD, Holly Cairns, Social Democrat spokesperson on Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, has called on Minister Creed to immediately review the Covid-19 tie-up scheme. It is designed to adjust the supply of fish coming onto a currently depressed market and protect quota availability for later in the year; however, many fishing communities […]

Social Democrats TD for Wicklow, and Spokesperson for Communications, Jennifer Whitmore has called for the Government to move quickly to provide additional funding to the Trading Online Voucher Scheme (TOV) for small businesses, after it has come to light that new applications for the scheme have been stalled due to a lack of funding. The […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson for Climate Change and Biodiversity, Jennifer Whitmore TD., believes that the time has come to use nature-based solutions (NbS) to deal with many of the environmental problems facing us, including many of the challenges of the climate emergency. “This World Environment Day, Friday 5th June, let’s appreciate the power and the value of […]

Speaking in the Dáil, on Rural and Community Development, Cork South West TD Holly Cairns, called on Minister Ring to ensure that the community sector is properly funded in light of the Covid-19 emergency. An over-reliance on fundraising and inconsistent government funding, results in poorly resourced services which cannot properly plan or develop. Holly explains: […]