News

Holly Cairns TD, Social Democrats spokesperson for Agriculture, has renewed her call for a task force for the meat processing industry following the emergence of new Covid-19 clusters in a number of plants. Holly said: “While the health and wellbeing of the workers must be our main priority, ongoing outbreaks at meat processing plants have […]

Social Democrats TD for Cork South West and spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Holly Cairns, has welcomed the publication of health guidelines for the safe resumption of on-campus activity in third level institutions but said further clarification was needed from the Government in some areas. Holly said: “The publication of the Implementation Guidelines for […]

Social Democrats Councillor for Birr, Clare Claffey, has welcomed confirmation from the HSE that there will be space for an out-of-hours GP service in the Primary Care Centre planned for the town. The details were provided in response to a Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Health from Róisín Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social […]

Róisin Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats and spokesperson on Finance, has expressed concerns at today’s announcement by Bank of Ireland of 1,400 job losses. Deputy Shortall said: “Even though redundancies in the banking sector had been anticipated, the scale of the job losses proposed is staggering and will see staff numbers reduced from […]

Social Democrats TD and spokesperson for Social Protection, Gary Gannon, has criticised the further suspension of an employee’s legal entitlement to claim redundancy if they have been laid-off or put on reduced hours for a set number of weeks. Deputy Gannon said: “This decision is a worrying erosion of statutory redundancy rights. Under the Redundancy […]

Róisín Shortall TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats, has expressed surprise that there are no measures contained in the Government’s announcement on Phase 4 to address the fact that 90% of people travelling into Ireland are from non-green list countries. Deputy Shortall said: “This worrying figure will almost certainly rise now that five countries have […]

Róisín Shortall, co-leader of the Social Democrats, has paid tribute to John Hume, who passed away earlier today. Deputy Shortall said: “John Hume’s contribution to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland will be his enduring legacy. He will be remembered as a humanitarian, civil rights champion, risk taker and key architect of the […]

Figures for passenger numbers coming into Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports by country of origin released to Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD show the scale of the problem which the Government has ignored for too long. Catherine Murphy said: “The numbers of people coming in from countries that are not on green lists in […]

Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson and Dublin Bay North TD, Cian O’Callaghan, has expressed concern at the latest homelessness figures. Deputy O’Callaghan said: “The latest figures show that 8,699 people are homeless. Despite an increase in the availability of properties due to Covid-19 and the emergency ban on evictions, the overall homeless numbers have fallen by […]

Róisín Shortall TD, Social Democrats spokesperson on Health, has called on the Government to immediately act on the recommendations contained in the Interim Report on Covid-19 in Nursing Homes, which was published today. Deputy Shortall said: “This report highlights the glaring gaps in the system which led to so many deaths of people in our […]