News

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD has said the government needs to wake up to the disturbing findings of a new poll that shows more than two thirds of people consider the problem of corruption to be widespread in Ireland. Deputy Murphy was commenting on the latest Eurobarometer public opinion survey by the European Commission […]

The Social Democrats have called on the Taoiseach to publish instructions given by officials to agencies which placed Ireland 2040 advertisements in local and regional newspapers which look like news coverage. The party’s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said: “The Taoiseach needs to publish exactly what instructions were given by the Strategic Communications Unit to Mediaforce […]

Social Democrats Political Director Anne-Marie McNally has supported the call by Age Action for a double payment of the Social Welfare Fuel Payment this week. The forecast for exceptionally cold weather over the coming days has caused serious concerns that elderly people and low-income families will be forced to try and be frugal with their […]

The Social Democrats will today make a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority to raise concerns that government advertorials about Ireland 2040 have breached the principles of the advertising code which calls for ads to be ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’. The party co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said: “In an era when there is […]

Social Democrats Political Director Anne-Marie McNally has urged homeless agencies and their facilities to take heed of the significant weather warnings in place for the coming days and ensure people are not forced onto the street during daytime hours, as is the usual practice. Ms McNally said that with Met Éireann predicting ‘exceptionally cold weather […]

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 Social Democrats are pleased to announce that Cork County Councillor June Murphy has joined the party. Ms Murphy (43) is a native of Mitchelstown. She was first elected in 2014 to Cork County Council representing the people of the Fermoy Municipal District. Announcing the move, the party’s co-leaders Róisín Shortall TD and Catherine Murphy […]

The Social Democrats have called on the Minister for Finance to intervene to block the sale of Permanent TSB mortgages to unregulated vulture funds. The party’s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said: “This bank is 75 per cent owned by the State and the Minister for Finance must do what he can to protect homeowners by halting the […]

Ireland 2040 is the government’s plan for capital development across the country, and has just been launched. There’s good and bad news for Dublin 15. The good news is that the DART upgrade for the Maynooth train line has been announced again (fourth time by my count). The expansion of the DART to Maynooth has […]

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD has said that while many of the projects promised in today’s launch of the National Development Plan are laudable, she has serious reservations about the ability to deliver on them and she questioned whether or not there has been any joined-up thinking to link this plan with previous plans […]

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 […]

Social Democrats Co-Leader Catherine Murphy has said the process leading up to the pending announcement later this week of the National Development Plan is fundamentally undemocratic and she called out Fianna Fáil for what she described as their attempts to straddle both sides of the fence on this issue. Deputy Murphy said that politicians from […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has called upon the Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, to remove restrictions on student intake at new Educate Together primary schools. Deputy Shortall said: “Parents who had expected that their children would be enrolling in five schools run by the multi-denominational patron have been devastated to learn that they […]

On foot of today’s Daft.ie report showing record high rents in Dublin and other cities, the Social Democrats have called on the government to expedite the party’s Bill to give incoming tenants access to the amount of rent paid by their predecessors. The party’s co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2018 […]