{"id":188,"date":"2017-06-08T08:03:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T07:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/"},"modified":"2017-06-08T08:03:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T07:03:27","slug":"south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Social Democrats are pleased to announce that South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney has joined the party.<\/p>\n<p>Councillor Looney (34) was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009. He was re-elected for the Templeogue-Terenure ward as an Independent in 2014. He is from Greenhills, Dublin 12 and works as a primary school teacher in St Dominic&#8217;s NS, Tallaght.<\/p>\n<p>Announcing the move, the party\u2019s co-leaders Catherine Murphy TD and Ro\u00eds\u00edn Shortall TD said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re delighted to welcome Dermot to the Social Democrats. He has been an energetic campaigner for community-led planning and development and has stood up for local public services and principled politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks to his efforts, South Dublin County Council is the first local authority to get citizens involved in deciding how to spend part of its annual budget &#8211; this gives real power to people to allocate funds to improve their communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDermot will bring great experience and commitment to our Dublin South West branch. Along with our party colleagues, we very much look forward to working with him in growing the Social Democrats movement as a dynamic force for change in Irish society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on his move, Councillor Looney said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came into representative politics through the kind of activism that still drives me today \u2013 community issues, public services, equality and peace. I have been hugely impressed by the work of Catherine Murphy and R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall in the D\u00e1il, along with Social Democrats councillors, in championing those ideas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Social Democrats are an exciting new force on the left in Irish politics. I have been enthused by the energy and activism of their members in challenging the status quo and standing for a fairer, more decent society. At a time of change in politics both nationally and internationally, I am looking forward to campaigning with the Social Democrats to advance the kind of policies we need in our local community and across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Dermot joining the party, the Social Democrats now have five elected councillors representing areas of Dublin city and county as well as Fingal, Co. Wicklow, and Co. Cork.<\/p>\n<p>ENDS<\/p>\n<p>6 June 2017<\/p>\n<p><em>Notes to Editors:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dermot Looney was first elected to South Dublin County Council (SDCC) in 2009. He was re-elected for the Templeogue-Terenure ward as an Independent in 2014, topping the poll with 2,826 first preferences, or 1.18 quotas. He served as Mayor of South Dublin County Council from 2013-14.<\/p>\n<p>Dermot has a wide range of experience as a local public representative. He has been vocal on the need for more social housing in the county and on the need to protect private rented tenants through inspections and rent controls. He has been a prominent voice in defending housing grants for the elderly and disabled, and has stood up for local public services including parks, transport, health, transport, Gaeilge, arts and heritage.<\/p>\n<p>Among his recent achievements on South Dublin County Council was the adoption, for the first time in Irish local government history, of Participatory Budgeting, on his proposal. This resulted in the \u20ac300K \u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VoteDermotLooney\/posts\/1947116322196152\"> Have Your Say scheme.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the Council, Dermot has championed the SDCC library service, recently winning a motion on the Council opposing staffless libraries. He also helped design the Community Initiative Fund scheme for local community groups, which awards \u20ac250,000 each year, and was involved in the local Playspace programme in SDCC.<\/p>\n<p>Dermot led a campaign on the Council to publish all councillor expenses and remuneration, and publishes his own expenses online each year. As Mayor, he cut his pay by \u20ac7,000 and established the Mayor&#8217;s Fund which awarded grants to 50 community groups across the county.<\/p>\n<p>Dermot attended school locally in St Peter\u2019s BNS and Greenhills College. He has a degree in Social Science (Social Policy and Politics with Sociology) from UCD and a Higher Diploma in Primary Education from Hibernia College. He has worked as a primary teacher for the last eight years in St Dominic\u2019s NS, Tallaght. Mr Looney is a patron member of St Patrick\u2019s Athletic FC and a qualified football coach.<\/p>\n<p>You can follow Dermot on Twitter @dlooney and on Facebook: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VoteDermotLooney\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VoteDermotLooney<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ENDS<\/p>\n<p>8 June 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Social Democrats are pleased to announce that South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney has joined the party. Councillor Looney (34) was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009. He was re-elected for the Templeogue-Terenure ward as an Independent in 2014. He is from Greenhills, Dublin 12 and works as a primary school [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constituencies","category-latest-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Social Democrats are pleased to announce that South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney has joined the party. Councillor Looney (34) was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009. He was re-elected for the Templeogue-Terenure ward as an Independent in 2014. He is from Greenhills, Dublin 12 and works as a primary school [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Constituencies\",\"Latest News\",\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/\",\"name\":\"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\",\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/zoo-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats","og_description":"The Social Democrats are pleased to announce that South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney has joined the party. Councillor Looney (34) was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009. He was re-elected for the Templeogue-Terenure ward as an Independent in 2014. He is from Greenhills, Dublin 12 and works as a primary school [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00","author":"ZOO Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ZOO Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/"},"author":{"name":"ZOO Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960"},"headline":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats","datePublished":"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/"},"wordCount":698,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Constituencies","Latest News","Press Release"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/","name":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-08T07:03:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/south-dublin-county-councillor-dermot-looney-joins-the-social-democrats\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960","name":"ZOO Admin","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}