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Humphreys must publish full report into ODCE’s failings

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD today called on Minister Heather Humphreys to publish the full report into the collapse of the trial of the former Anglo banker Seán Fitzpatrick. “I simply don’t buy the line that this important report can’t be published in full due to legal considerations. There is an overwhelming case for […]

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Government continues to betray people with disabilities by denying promised rights

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today accused the government of betraying people with disabilities by its continued denial of promised rights under an important UN Convention. “This week we marked International Day of Disabled Persons 2018. Yet the government continues to betray people with disabilities by denying them the right to bring complaints under […]

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Regulate English Language schools now – Sarah Durcan

Social Democrats candidate for Dublin Bay South, Sarah Durcan, today called for urgent regulation of the English language school sector following the sudden closure of Grafton College language school. “It’s not acceptable that 500 students and 20 teachers have been left in the lurch by the sudden closure of this college just weeks before Christmas. […]

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Let’s ditch the public service stereotyping, says Sinéad Gibney

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to intervene to compel the HSE to release smear slides to women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy so they can be independently reviewed. “Contrary to the myth, our civil servants are definitely not all ‘pale, male and stale’ lifers. We must hold […]

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No end in sight for consumers facing gift voucher rip-offs

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD has accused the government of repeatedly letting down consumers by failing to push through legislation to remove excessive charges and restrictions on gift vouchers in time for Christmas. “The Christmas gift voucher buying season is in full swing, yet people buying gift vouchers for friends and family have very […]

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SocDems call for national roll out of HIV rapid testing

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to intervene to compel the HSE to release smear slides to women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy so they can be independently reviewed. “Sexual health check-ups including rapid-test HIV testing, must be both free and readily available nationwide.” Social Democrats co-leader Róisín […]

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Why bother with rules if they’re just there to be broken?

Catherine Murphy TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats has said she doesn’t understand why the Department of Communications bothered writing a set of rules for the National Broadband Plan if they could simply be broken repeatedly with supposedly no impact on the process. “Given that the report finds that the plan has not been compromised […]

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Speech by Róisín Shortall TD on Dáil Brexit motion

Táiniste, Minister, Taoiseach, in previous Brexit debates in this chamber  both I and many others have repeatedly urged that in the context of the negotiations that the British government spell out exactly what their plans to avoid a hard border in Ireland would actually look like. “While there is an acceptance that this deal, if […]

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Reported NBP review findings raise more questions than answers

Social Democrats Co-Leader Catherine Murphy has said she finds it curious that the Smyth report into the National Broadband Plan has reportedly concluded that the process was not compromised despite the former Communications Minister Denis Naughten, and indeed the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, conceding that repeated contacts between Mr Naughten & the last remaining bidder throughout […]

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