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More and more families are being priced out of essential goods as grocery costs continue to rise, according to Social Democrats food spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore said: “Everyday items continue to rise in price in supermarkets – the Consumer Price Index for December 2025 shows that butter, milk and bread, among other essentials, cost […]

It is inexcusable that more than 30 serving and former ministers have yet to commence a process to repay pension money that was overpaid to them in error, according to Social Democrats finance spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan said: “Last year, it emerged that 34 serving ministers, and 39 former ministers, had been overpaid as […]

The National Transport Authority (NTA) must explain how the construction of 14 steps and a ramp in a south Dublin park ended up costing more than €500,000 above the original estimate, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said: “While the eventual bill of €750,000 […]

Belated assurances from X that it will geoblock its chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people are too little too late, according to Social Democrats media spokesperson Sinéad Gibney. Deputy Gibney said: “When edit functions were added to Grok, with the express purpose of nudifying images, Elon Musk thought it was a big joke […]

A whole of government approach is needed to bring down the financial barriers preventing students from progressing to higher education, according to Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins. Deputy Cummins said: “Last year saw a decline in students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds progressing to colleges and universities – the gap in educational inequality is widening. […]

The crisis in public dentistry has continued to deepen under this government, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson Pádraig Rice. Deputy Rice made his comments after representatives from the Irish Dental Association (IDA), Department of Health and the HSE appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee today. He said: “In 2019, the National Oral Health Policy, […]

Donald Trump’s inflammatory words about US military intervention in Iran will bring only further pain and strife if acted on, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: “It’s now estimated by fact checkers with Iran International that over 12,000 people have been killed in Iran in the last week at […]

The Social Democrats today called on the government to immediately introduce an emergency winter payment of €400 for people with disabilities. The call was made at briefing in Leinster House this morning, which was attended by representatives from the Disability Federation of Ireland, Access for All Ireland, and the Irish Wheelchair Association. Speaking at the […]

The government must urgently intervene to prevent children from being denied appropriate school places despite clear assurances given by the Minister for Education that this would not happen, according to Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins. Speaking in response to reports of an autistic child being refused a special school place because his parents contacted […]

The government is flailing around on the Grok AI scandal unable to get its story straight, according to Social Democrats media spokesperson Sinéad Gibney. “Last night, on Prime Time, AI Minister Niamh Smyth was clear that we have “very strong and robust” laws which criminalise the spread of non-consensual sexualised images of women and children, […]