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Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD has called for a raft of targeted measures to help people who are increasingly forced to share rental accommodation because of rising costs and the lack of affordable homes to buy and rent. Deputy Murphy said: “Today’s report from Savills Ireland shows that a fifth of the population nationwide […]

It is entirely unacceptable that no senior Garda management are to be held to account for the widespread abuse of the penalty point system and the falsification of breath tests, Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has said. Deputy Shortall’s comments follow the publication today of a GSOC report which found superintendents and inspectors breached […]

Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy TD., today introduces the Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Bill, 2017 to the Dáil which would tilt the balance in favour of consumers by banning many of the sneaky charges associated with gift vouchers. The Bill would ensure gift vouchers are valid for at least five years, would ban charges for […]

The independent Toland Review group which found the Department of Justice to be closed and secretive should be invited back to conduct an urgent progress update on its reform recommendations, the Social Democrats said today. The party’s co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said: “The events of the past few days have exposed major problems once again […]

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan still has important questions to answer in relation to his department’s handling of the McCabe email affair, the co-leader of the Social Democrats, Róisín Shortall TD, said tonight. Deputy Shortall accused the Minister of evasion in how he handled a series of questions which she raised with him in the […]

The inquiry into how Department of Justice emails released last night were missed in the first trawl of documents for the Charleton Tribunal must be led by an independent external expert if it is to have the full confidence of the public, the Social Democrats said today. Speaking following Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, the […]

The Social Democrats have called for the full transcripts of the O’Higgins Commission to be released so we can finally get to the truth about the aggressive legal strategy pursued against Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe. The party’s co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said: “I welcome the Tánaiste’s resignation, however overdue. But it does point to […]

The Social Democrats have said the Tánaiste’s position is untenable in the light of further documents released tonight about Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe. The party’s co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said: “The sheer extent of the Tánaiste’s dereliction of her duty as Minister for Justice is laid bare in the chain of emails released tonight. “The […]

The Social Democrats have accused Fine Gael of spoiling for an election rather than coming clean about the severe failings of the Tánaiste in her handling the Maurice McCabe email affair. Party co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said this morning: “It was spelled out to Frances Fitzgerald in the email she received in May 2015 that […]

Róisín Shortall, the co-leader of the Social Democrats, has called for Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, to explain his role in the Maurice McCabe email affair. Speaking today after Leaders’ Questions, Deputy Shortall said; “There is an understandable focus on the Tánaiste’s role in all this. However, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the […]

Róisín Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats, called the revelations in tonight’s Prime Time Investigates programme a ‘national scandal’. The programme revealed in the starkest terms how public patients waiting to see consultants in State-funded hospitals face unnecessary delays, pain and suffering. Ms Shortall said: “As alarming as the programme’s findings are they will […]

Róisín Shortall TD, the Social Democrats Co-Leader, has called for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to urgently correct the Dáil Record in light of this evening’s revelations regarding Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald’s knowledge of the legal strategy on the Garda McCabe case at the O’Higgins Commission. Róisín Shortall said: “The revelations this evening are deeply disturbing and it […]

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD has strongly questioned the government’s commitment to fully implement Sláintecare, the fully costed ten-year health reform plan put forward by a cross-party Oireachtas committee. Speaking following a Dáil debate on the Sláintecare plan today, Deputy Shortall said she and other members of the Oireachtas committee which produced the Sláintecare […]

The Taoiseach’s forcible defence of his comments that ‘things are not that bad’ while more than 3,000 children face into a Christmas in emergency accommodation means we are no longer dealing with reality but with propaganda, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said tonight. Speaking during a Dáil debate on a private members’ bill, Deputy […]