News

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 […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson on Energy, Jenifer Whitmore TD, has said today’s announcement by the CRU (Commission for Regulation of Utilities) that the moratorium on disconnections will cease on June 29th  and that the provision of emergency credit to Pay As You Go Customers will revert to €10 from the current €100, is premature and will cause […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrat spokesperson for biodiversity, and Holly Cairns TD, spokesperson for Agriculture, have called on Coillte to extend nationwide their recreational and biodiversity initiative for Dublin. Coillte have announced that nine Dublin forests will transition away from commercial activities of felling and replanting cycles towards a model of planting native broad-leaf varieties. The […]

Social Democrats spokesperson for Children Deputy Jennifer Whitmore has said that there should be no rowing back on support put in place for the childcare sector, and instead the state should build on these measures to finally create a national public childcare system. Deputy Whitmore said: When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, it quickly exposed the […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson for Biodiversity Deputy Jennifer Whitmore called on the Minister for Heritage to establish a special wildlife crimes unit within the Gardaí. The call comes on national biodiversity week after mass Buzzard kills and large scale deliberate fires in Wicklow. Deputy Whitmore said “we declared a national climate change and biodiversity emergency last […]

Responding a survey of childcare providers by Early Childhood Ireland published today, SocDems spokesperson on Children, Jennifer Whitmore TD, called on the Department of Children to urgently rethink their planning for re-opening of the childcare sector. Whitmore said: “The approach to reopening the childcare sector has been beset with problems. This latest survey shows that […]