The funding of third level education is a critical issue and there is no doubt that in the wake of the economic crash in 2008 and the fiscal crisis that it brought about, third level education was among those sectors worst hit. However, I’m not sure that the headline recommendations contained in the Cassells Report,…

“Plan is designed to dismantle publicly funded emergency care” states Willie Penrose TD. The proposals emanating from an expert group and being submitted to the Department of Health and the HSE to close nine A&E units across the country are dangerous and could put lives at risk. The proposition stymied by the last government but…

Lacey elected first labour cathaoirleach of eastern and midlands regional assembly At the Annual General Meeting of the  Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly on Friday 8th July former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey was elected as the first ever Labour Party Cathaoirleach of the Regional Assembly. The Assembly established under the Local…

I would like to welcome the positive response to calls that I made last week for the provisions of the Paternity Leave legislation that is currently in the Oireachtas, to be extended to expectant families who are due to give birth in September. In government, Labour provided for two weeks paid paternity leave for the…

Joint statement by Labour Party and SDLP Party Leaders At a meeting of the PES Leaders in Paris on 7th July a common view of the consequences of the British vote on Brexit was presented to the gathering by the Leaders of the Irish Labour Party Brendan Howlin TD and the Leader of the SDLP…

  Senator Ivana Bacik today welcomed confirmation from the Tánaiste that Ireland will admit an additional 260 Syrian refugees for resettlement here by autumn 2016, but criticised the delay in admission of refugees from Syria under the government’s resettlement programme to date. Senator Bacik said: “In 2015, over 1.3 million people applied for asylum within…

Earlier today in the Dáil on behalf of the Labour Party I introduced the 35th Amendment of the Constitution (Public Ownership of Certain Assets) Bill 2016, which will seek to amend the Constitution so as to provide for the retention of certain specified public utilities in public ownership, by preventing the sale of state assets…

Three things are clear from today’s announcement by Education Minister Richard Bruton on his new Education (Admission to Schools) Bill. First, the Bill walks away from the commitment in Fine Gael’s election manifesto to “transform the School Admissions Bill agreed by the current Government, but not yet passed by the Oireachtas, into a new School…