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Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD, responding to a Social Justice Ireland report that shows more than 104,000 working people at risk of poverty, today said: “The findings of the Poverty Focus 2018 report are very disturbing and show just how much this government is failing working people and their families. “The government clearly has […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has strongly criticised Government inaction on the crisis in General Practice which means medical card patients are increasingly being refused access to basic GP services. Deputy Shortall said: “Today’s Sunday Business Post health feature clearly demonstrates that there is a very real crisis in General Practice where increasingly medical […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has expressed huge disappointment over the failure of Minister Finian McGrath TD to support people with disabilities by ensuring that they have the right to bring complaints to an important UN body. Deputy Shortall said the Minister had betrayed Ireland’s 640,000 people with disabilities who now have no way […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has accused the government of betraying people with disabilities by refusing to give them the right to bring complaints to an important UN body. Deputy Shortall was commenting after it emerged from an official source that the government does not intend for the foreseeable future to ratify a crucial […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has called on Minister of State Finian McGrath to clarify when the government will ratify a crucial protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (UNCPRD). Deputy Shortall said: “The ratification of the UNCPRD is not fully complete until the government also ratifies the optional […]

On International Women’s Day, the co-leaders of the Social Democrats, Róisín Shortall TD and Catherine Murphy TD, have raised the need for more women to be involved in politics and urged people to support the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. Deputy Shortall said: “International Women’s Day is an important occasion to celebrate women’s many […]

The Social Democrats have called for the North’s Civic Forum to be reconstituted as a way to give voice to people left behind by the peace process. The party’s co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said the consultative forum of civil society and community groups could serve as a counterbalance to the ‘green and orange’ straitjacket of […]

Co-leader of the Social Democrats, Róisín Shortall TD, today accused the Minister for Education of a “breach of faith” in relation to pluralism in education. Speaking in the Dáil today, Deputy Shortall challenged the Minister over the decision to limit five Educate Together schools to an intake of just 13 pupils next year, and his […]

The Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has called on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to stop treating childcare workers as ‘second class educators’ and provide proper supports so that they can undertake mandatory in-service child protection training. Deputy Shortall made her call after questioning Minister Zappone in the Dáil today about the […]

The government’s Bill for employees with insecure contracts does not go far enough to protect precarious workers and will allow their exploitation to continue, the Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall TD said today. Deputy Shortall said the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 contained significant loopholes that could be exploited by employers to undermine job security […]