News

Catherine Murphy TD has welcomed the hard-hitting PAC report into financial practices at Templemore Garda training and said the report does “not pull any punches.” Speaking at the launch of the report, Deputy Murphy said that when she had first raised the issue with the then Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald it had been dismissed […]

The government is failing thousands of tenants facing spiralling costs by refusing to act to cut stamp duty on rents above €2,500 a month, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy said today. Deputy Murphy said figures published today show that some 55 per cent of three-bedroom Dublin city homes currently up for rent through online property […]

The fire safety review announced by Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster deliberately excludes social housing where fire risks are most serious, according to Social Democrats Cllr Cian O’Callaghan. Cllr O’Callaghan said the scope of the ongoing review is excessively narrow, focusing only on multi-storey buildings of five […]

The high costs of sending children to school need to be lifted so that parents are not being forced into debt to cover basics, the Social Democrats said today. Party co-leader Róisín Shortall TD was commenting on new research that shows that the average cost of primary school education is €766 a year. The Cost […]

The Social Democrats support the increase in the Living Wage rate – but stress that there also has to be a focus on reducing the cost of living. Party co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said: “I welcome the increase in the Living Wage for 2017 to €11.70 per hour. The experts who calculate this increase say […]

The Social Democrats have welcomed action by competition authorities into alleged price fixing in the motor insurance industry. The party’s Dublin Mid-West local area representative Anne Marie was speaking following reports that competition enforcement officials today carried out office raids as part of a probe into possible cartel activity in the insurance industry. Ms McNally […]

AN AUSTRALIAN POLITICIAN made global news recently for breastfeeding her child while speaking in parliament. It’s worth taking a minute to look behind the vaguely titillating headlines. Australian Greens politician Larissa Waters was categorically not the first female politician to feed a child in her place of work. What’s unusual about the situation was not […]

The Social Democrats have said the government’s appalling record on tackling corruption has led to it being rebuked today by the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, GRECO. The party co-leader Róisín Shortall TD was commenting on a GRECO report which found that Ireland’s level of compliance with its recommendations were “globally unsatisfactory”. The anti-corruption body […]

The Minister for Housing is sitting on a major fire safety review completed over a year ago while today announcing a separate review in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze, the Social Democrats said today. Dublin Bay North Councillor Cian O’Callaghan said: “Mr Murphy is saying that the Grenfell Tower fire is going to […]

The new Taoiseach and government must spearhead changes to deliver real equality for LGBTI people, the Social Democrats said today. Speaking ahead of the annual Pride Parade, the party’s co-leaders Catherine Murphy TD and Róisín Shortall TD said the struggle for equality is not complete and it is vitally important to build on recent progress. […]

According to new figures obtained by the Social Democrats, Fingal County Council has acquired only 33 vacant dwellings in the first five months of the year. Commenting on the figures, Social Democrats representative for Castleknock and Blanchardstown, Aengus Ó Maoláin said: “Astonishingly, this paltry number actually puts Fingal ahead of every other local authority in […]

The Social Democrats today invoked a little used Dáil procedure to seek urgent answers from the Taoiseach about the hasty approval of the former Attorney General to the Court of Appeal. In a Special Notice Question submitted today, the party’s TDS Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall are asking the Taoiseach to publish any correspondence between […]

  The new Taoiseach must halt the appointment of the former Attorney General as a judge and come before the Dáil next week to answer questions on all the circumstances surrounding the filling of the Court of Appeal vacancy, the Social Democrats’ co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said today. Deputy Shortall said: “This issue is a […]

The Social Democrats’ Galway representative has called on gardaí to step up safety measures for minority groups following an attack on a mosque in the city last night. Niall Ó Tuathail described the incident as cowardly, and said he had recently written to local gardaí to raise concerns about the emergence of an apparent neo-Nazi […]