News

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to provide immediate answers on the latest failures of the CervicalCheck programme. Deputy Shortall was commenting after it emerged that 52 of some 800 women impacted by the reported IT problems in the Quest Diagnostics laboratory have contracted the HPV virus. She […]

The Social Democrats today expressed deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the late barrister and political commentator, Noel Whelan. The party’s co-leaders Róisín Shortall TD and Catherine Murphy TD said: “We are deeply saddened by the news of Noel’s death. Noel was a passionate campaigner, a talented barrister and a discerning political commentator […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called for urgent government action to address the crisis in how young hospital doctors are trained, recruited and treated. Deputy Shortall said: “I welcome today’s publication of the Medical Council report on the experience of young doctors in our hospitals. The report found that more than a third […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to urgently address the scandalous lack of home care services after new HSE figures show there are 585 patients stuck in hospital beds due to delayed discharges. “Every one of these figures represents a patient who is needlessly occupying a hospital bed […]

The Social Democrats today castigate the Fine Gael government for paying lip service to a so-called squeezed middle while failing ordinary working people and putting no squeeze on those at the very top. “People are increasingly asking the question – where is Fine Gael taking us and is it really where we want to go?” […]

“We have to put the interests of our people ahead of the interests of international capital.” The Social Democrats today make an urgent call for legal restrictions to tackle the growing dominance of international investment funds on the rental sector which is pushing up prices and driving insecurity among renters. Party co-leaders Catherine Murphy TD […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today challenged the Minister for Health over the six-month delay in publishing the promised legal framework to guarantee full public ownership and clinical independence of the new National Maternity Hospital “It’s intolerable that more than two years since the initial public outcry over the Minister’s handling of the National […]

The Social Democrats today called on the public to turn out in force to demonstrate against US President Donald Trump’s regressive and demeaning politics. “This is an opportunity to signal clearly to the Government and the rest of the world that we strongly oppose Trump’s type of regressive and demeaning politics.” The Social Democrats today […]

“The purpose of the our proposals was to prevent homelessness by strengthening tenants’ rights in respect of minimum notice periods for termination of tenancies and to improve rent certainty measures.” Proposals by the Social Democrats aimed at reducing the risk of homelessness have been passed by the Seanad tonight following the passing of the Residential […]

The Social Democrats have called for an award-winning Council project, Community Budgeting, to be expanded into every local Council in Ireland. “We’ve seen the success of the X-Factor and the Eurovision in terms of engaging people by giving them a vote. Community Budgeting can do the same and bring real tangible benefits to local communities […]