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The Social Democrats have accused the Government of attempting to railroad the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) through the Dáil without adequate pre-legislative scrutiny. Holly Cairns TD, who is the party’s spokesperson for the Marine, said: “The time allocated for a debate on this topic tomorrow is wholly inadequate to address the myriad of issues […]

The Social Democrats have called on the Government to demonstrate moral leadership by backing the campaign for an intellectual property rights waiver on the production of vaccines. Holly Cairns TD, who is the party’s spokesperson for Social Justice, said: “While the Irish response to the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding in India is welcome, the real […]

Reacting to the destructive weekend fires in Killarney National Park, Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has called on the Minister for Agriculture to ensure the sustainable protection of uplands in ongoing CAP reform negotiations. Holly, who is the party’s spokesperson on Agriculture, said: “Although the devastating fire in Killarney is the most prominent one, there […]

– TDs from all sides of the House need to scrutinise any deal’ Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has accused the Minister for Agriculture of negotiating with the European Commission on CAP reform without proper Dáil oversight or input from Irish farming organisations. Holly said: “We have a right to know that our food is […]

– Government needs to address impacts of ‘draconian, callous’ system Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns says that families living in direct provision will be left in limbo for years before the system is abolished. Speaking in the Dáil today, Holly said: “Over the past 20 years, 60,000 people have spent time in direct provision. Over […]

– Only three dedicated HSE hospital beds for people with eating disorders – Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has called for dedicated eating disorder teams to be deployed to every Community Healthcare Organisation area in the country. Speaking in the Dáil today, she also called for ringfenced annual funding to be allocated to provide adequate […]

Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has called for the immediate rollout of a nationwide plan that would allow accompanying partners to attend maternity hospitals at all stages of pregnancy and labour. She made her comments following the launch of a new visitor scheduling app at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH), which has allowed for an […]

The very least we owe these children, and their families, is to investigate how they died. Holly Cairns TD is calling on the Minister for Justice to ensure that inquests are held into all deaths that occurred in mother and baby homes and similar institutional settings. During a debate on the Institutional Burial Bill, at […]

Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has strongly criticised the Government for failing to provide an update this week on ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in maternity hospitals. After raising the issue in the Dáil today, Holly said: “It is baffling that the Taoiseach made no reference to the ongoing restrictions in maternity hospitals when announcing the phased […]

The Rural Future plan announced today must be followed up with immediate Government action to help stem the further decline of communities throughout Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns. Holly, who represents Cork South-West, said: “The plan announced today, while ambitious in terms of scale, will ultimately be judged on how quickly it […]