News

The Social Democrats have called upon the Minister for Communications to ensure that contingency plans are in place to deal with any potential natural gas shortages amid supply concerns in the UK which also supplies gas to Ireland. The party’s political director Anne-Marie McNally said: “The National Grid in the UK has warned it may […]

Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Councillor Jennifer Whitmore, has criticised the Department of Education’s advice to schools’ boards of management this morning as ‘too little, too late’. Greystones Councillor Whitmore said: “At 5.50a.m. this morning, Met Éireann issued a Status Red weather warning for snow and ice in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow and Meath. “However, […]

Social Democrats Political Director Anne-Marie McNally has welcomed today’s decision by the Minister for Social Protection to double the payment of fuel allowance to 331,000 people this week. Ms McNally said: “With the onset of snow overnight and further exceptionally cold weather forecast over the coming days, the doubling of the fuel allowance will give […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

IT USED TO be thought that Educate Together schools were niche schools for a small minority of atheist parents and immigrants. But they are not. They are multi-denominational schools that cater for parents who want to send their children into classrooms where being Catholic is not the status quo; who do not want their sons […]

Social Democrats Cllr Jennifer Whitmore has welcomed the launch of a Neighbourhood Watch in Charlesland Park. Whitmore said “The residents of Charlesland have worked together for the past eighteen months to improve the security of their estate. It began with the setting up of “WhatsApp” groups where residents from each street could contact each other […]

ASK ANY WORKING parent whether they’d be happy to take unpaid leave from their job to spend more time with their children, and the response is usually an enthusiastic ‘yes – if I could afford it!’ The reality is that with the high cost of childcare, the option of one parent – let’s face it […]

During my 33 years, Galway has changed from a large town to a small city. But we haven’t done a good job of managing that change. Housing estate after housing estate has sprung up with little additional services in the form of public transport, cycle lanes, community centres or local businesses. Jobs were located in […]

The Department of Education must intervene to allow students and teachers from Coláiste Ráithín in Bray to move into their new school building which has been delayed by the Carillion collapse, Social Democrats’ councillor Jennifer Whitmore said today. Local Cllr Whitmore said: “I attended a meeting last night at which teachers, parents and students from […]