News

The lack of urgency is deeply worrying The Minister for Health must clarify when the monkeypox vaccination programme will be rolled out, according to Social Democrats Health Spokesperson Róisín Shortall. “Last week, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced that a monkeypox vaccination programme, targeted at individuals at high risk, would be rolled out. However, there is […]

We have less than eight years to radically reduce our emissions and the lack of a tangible strategy is deeply worrying The Government’s emissions reduction plan must assist all farmers – not just the big players, says Social Democrats Agriculture spokesperson Holly Cairns. “The Government’s climate action plans must support small family farms in a […]

The latest homelessness figures are a shocking indictment of the Government’s failed housing policy The Government must urgently respond to near record-breaking levels of homelessness, according to the Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “Homelessness is near an all-time high. This is a disaster for everyone living in emergency accommodation who does not have a place […]

The Minister for Housing has refused to act and has hidden behind the very limited review that he asked Remy Farrell to conduct The Minister for Housing must act on allegations regarding An Bord Pleanála, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “Over the last number of months, a whole series of allegations have […]

The ongoing failure to act demonstrates that the Government has learned nothing from the disastrous impact of construction defects Today the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, has published a report on building defects in apartments and duplexes. There are a series of urgent actions the Government must now take, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson […]

The Government is clearly not prepared to make the tough decisions required to deal with climate change The agreement of a 25% reduction in carbon emissions for the agricultural sector represents a shocking failure by Government to listen to the science, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. “The decision to put in place […]

The Government must develop a proper just transition plan for farmers to help them reach their climate targets The Government must ensure there is a just transition and a fair deal for farmers as they face the emission challenges ahead, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. “Farmers will play a major role in […]

It’s no wonder farmers are afraid of what this will mean for their families and their businesses – the Government is failing to be honest with them The failure of the Government to come to a decision on sectoral emissions ceilings is doing farming families a disservice, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. […]

It now costs an average of €27,120 per year to rent a house in Dublin – this is utterly unacceptable and unsustainable The latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) Rent Index – revealing rents grew by over 9.2% in the last year – shows rents are completely out of control, says Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan […]

While this government excels at climate rhetoric, it fails miserably at climate action Today’s EPA report, which reveals our carbon emissions are going up instead of down, must act as a wakeup call for the government, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. “Today’s EPA report confirms that our carbon emissions are going up, […]

It is not that long ago that the Irish public bailed out the banks, to the tune of €60 billion The decision by AIB to remove cash services from 70 branches around the country will disproportionately negatively impact people in rural Ireland and elderly people, according to Social Democrats Finance Spokesperson Róisín Shortall. “The decision […]

This refusal to be honest with farmers is putting them in a very vulnerable position Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue is in denial about the contribution agriculture will have to make to our carbon budgets, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. “Ranges for sectoral emissions targets were published last November with the Climate Action […]

The government must stop its dithering and delay and publish the sectoral emissions ceilings The failure of the government to publish sectoral emissions ceilings is deeply concerning, according to Social Democrats Climate Spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. “The unprecedented heatwave and raging wildfires across Europe this week have underscored the catastrophic impact of climate change – and […]

On every metric, the housing crisis is getting worse The latest Housing for All progress report shows only 16 of the 30 Housing for All actions promised for Q2 2022 were completed. Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said: “The Government has failed to deliver almost half of its promised actions in the Housing for […]