News

Animal Welfare The Social Democrats strongly advocate animal rights, and recognise animals as intelligent, sentient beings capable of complex thought and of experiencing pain and suffering. As a guiding principle, the State should strive to ensure that animals: Live lives free of pain and discomfort in so far as that is possible. Are strongly protected […]

Supporting Families Parenting is the most important job that any of us will ever do. Yet, in Ireland, we do too little to support parents. Despite improvements in recent years, we are still well behind other countries in terms of paid leave for parents, investment in childcare and early years education, supports for new parents, […]

Northern Ireland A United Ireland, achieved by consent has the real potential to benefit the people of the entire island economically, politically and culturally. We will therefore work towards achieving this in a spirit of mutual respect of and by the two parts of the island and based on a foundation of Social Democratic principles. […]

LGBTQI+ Rights Over the last 30 years, Ireland has made significant progress in terms of LGBTQI+ equality and acceptance. The successful Marriage Equality Referendum in May 2015, and the Gender Recognition Act of 2015, were important moments on that journey of change. As a new party our history is not only rooted in these achievements […]

Invest in Better This election offers a real choice. One option continues our current path. The same old ways of doing politics. Failing on our climate targets. Crisis after crisis caused by leaving health, housing and other public services to the market. The Social Democrats want to help move Ireland in a new direction. We […]

Alternative Budget 2024 Housing, children and climate action are the main focus of the Social Democrats’ Alternative Budget, ‘Unlocking the Future’, which is published today. The party’s key priorities for 2024 include: Deliver 10,000 affordable homes next year – a near doubling of the Government’s current target – and increase the renters’ tax credit to […]

Housing The Social Democrats want to transform our housing system to deliver high quality housing at an affordable cost to renters and to people buying their own home. We want to ensure that everyone in Ireland has a place to call home so they can live their life to its fullest potential. One of the […]

Honest Politics The Social Democrats want an end to ‘golden circle’ politics. We have a plan to open up government and improve accountability while also tackling corruption in politics and public life. Poorly designed systems of governance and accountability are at the heart of cost overruns involving massive amounts of public resources. This must change. […]

Disability People with disabilities are among those most at risk of poverty, social exclusion and unemployment and regularly face barriers to transport, housing, education and training. State supports, which should help disabled people lead full lives and reach their full potential, are fragmented and threadbare. Children with disabilities and their families must battle from the […]

Climate and Nature We have just six years to stop the worst impacts of the climate crisis – six years to do everything we can to avoid an irreversible climate catastrophe. The challenge is immense – and the government’s climate action plan doesn’t come close to meeting it. Even if every measure in the plan […]