Speaking on the Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2016, Labour TD for Longford – Westmeath, Willie Penrose has said we need to re-establish town councils. “I welcome this debate and I applaud Deputy Cassells for bringing forward the Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017. It is a start. It is…

Labour spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has welcomed Government plans to implement child welfare recommendations made by Dr Geoffrey Shannon in his Child Protection Audit. Deputy O’Sullivan said: “This is a welcome announcement from Minister Zappone that she is to put in place Dr Shannon’s recommendations; however it is critical that…

A year on since the Government and Fianna Fáil sent Labour’s Bill to amend the Equal Status Act to allow local children attend local schools regardless of their religion, for public consultation, Labour spokesperson on Education, Joan Burton TD, has called on the Government to take real action on the baptism barrier by getting its…

A Cheann Comhairle, This is a poor measure. And it is promoted for shoddy motives. That it is being promoted by the party that prides itself above all on its adherence to the Constitution, constitutional probity and the rule of law is deeply depressing. And it does not go unnoticed that the party of Collins…

Labour spokesperson on Education, Joan Burton will be available to speak to reporters at 11am in the Portico, Wednesday 28th June regarding her Equal Status (Admissions to School) Bill which was delayed passage to committee stage exactly one year ago. One year on, there still has been no action from the Minister on the baptism…

Good evening all. It’s great to see such a turnout here to support Aodhán. The last twelve months have not represented Irish politics finest hour. Having squabbled for 70 days, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael finally came to an agreement. And we might have thought that some work would begin. Very quickly, we realised how…

It is one of the greatest honours of my life to be trusted to fly the Labour banner by members of this great party. Having fought successful local elections in 2004, 2009 and a General Election in 2011, it was by the narrowest of margins that we lost out on a seat in Dublin Bay…

Labour spokesperson on Housing, Jan O’Sullivan TD has called on the Government to implement the long delayed tenancy deposit protection scheme. The law to allow for this was passed in 2015, and two years on it is time for the new Minister for Housing to act and allow the Residential Tenancies Board to launch the…