News

Holly Cairns TD, Social Democrats spokesperson for Further and Higher Education, and Gary Gannon TD, the party’s Education spokesperson, have called for meaningful reform of the college entry system following this afternoon’s release of first round CAO offers. Holly said: “Today marks a critical milestone after a very difficult and uncertain period for this year’s […]

Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats spokesperson on Education, has said that the reopening of schools has led to serious concerns for families where there are underlying health conditions. Deputy Gannon said: “Last week, I raised a situation facing one family where a mother with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), who without adequate guidance and support from […]

Two Social Democrats TDs – Gary Gannon and Holly Cairns – have called on the Minister for Higher Education to clarify issues raised by CAO applicants who sat the Leaving Certificate in previous years but will not benefit from predicted grades inflation when results are released next week. Gary Gannon TD, the party’s spokesperson on […]

Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats spokesperson on Education, has said that difficulties in recruiting additional teachers has emerged as one of the greatest challenges as our schools reopen. Deputy Gannon said: “The recruitment of over 1,000 additional teachers for post-primary schools was one of the headline measures in the Government’s announcement at the end of […]

The Social Democrats have called for mobile Covid-19 testing units to be rolled out for schools to help identify outbreaks and prevent widespread closures in the event of clusters emerging. Gary Gannon TD, the party’s Education spokesperson, said: “As primary and secondary schools start to reopen this week, there is understandable anxiety among parents, students, […]

Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central, Gary Gannon, has called on the Minister for Education and officials from her department to appear before the Oireachtas Special Covid-19 Committee to provide a progress report on the Government’s plan to reopen schools at the end of this month. Deputy Gannon, who is the party’s spokesperson on Education, […]

Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats spokesperson on Education, today called on the Minister for Education to reassure Leaving Cert students that the predictive grades debacle in Scotland could not happen here. Deputy Gannon said: “Students and parents in Ireland will have watched the controversy over predictive grades in Scotland with understandable concern. We are just […]

Social Democrats TD and spokesperson for Social Protection, Gary Gannon, has criticised the further suspension of an employee’s legal entitlement to claim redundancy if they have been laid-off or put on reduced hours for a set number of weeks. Deputy Gannon said: “This decision is a worrying erosion of statutory redundancy rights. Under the Redundancy […]

Gary Gannon TD, the Social Democrats spokesperson on Social Protection, has backed calls by St Vincent de Paul for the establishment of a Special Oireachtas Committee on Poverty and Inequality. Deputy Gannon said: “Disadvantaged communities have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and there are now over 700,000 people experiencing poverty in Ireland. Poverty […]

Gary Gannon, the Social Democrats spokesperson on Social Protection, has called on backbench TDs from the three Government parties to vote against measures in tonight’s Social Welfare Bill that will make it difficult for Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) recipients to return to their former employment. Deputy Gannon said: “The revelations over the weekend that PUP […]