The dramatic adjournment of the Bord Pleanala oral hearing of the planning application for the redevelopment of the Clerys Building on  O’Connell St. and the subsequent withdrawal by SIPTU of its appeal against the application yesterday indicated that significant progress had been made towards an agreement between the two parties.  This morning at a press…

Speaking ahead of today’s seminar on homelessness in the European Parliament, Labour Housing spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan TD commented: “While it might be out of the headlines at the moment, Ireland’s homelessness crisis has not gone away- quite the opposite, with the most recent figures showing more than 7,000 people were homeless in January, including around…

Labour Party spokesperson on Labour Affairs and Workers’ Rights, Senator Ged Nash, has paid tribute to the Dublin Lord Mayor, Brendan Carr, and the SIPTU Trade Union for securing a deal with the new Clerys owner that will benefit the former workers. Senator Nash said: “I want to congratulate my colleague, Labour Party Councillor and…

Labour Leader and spokesperson on Northern Ireland, Brendan Howlin has expressed his sympathy at the passing of Martin McGuinness. “I am saddened to hear of the death of Martin McGuinness. “My thoughts are firstly with his wife Bernie, his family and his colleagues in Sinn Féin. “The role Martin played in bringing peace and reconciliation…

The following oral submission was made by Joe Costello, Labour Party Spokesperson on Urban Renewal to the An Bord Pleanála hearing on Clerys Planing appeal (3442/16). In my observations to Dublin City Council Planning Department on the Clerys application I referred to two concerns: Overdevelopment of Clery’s Building The vision of the scheme of Special…

Labour spokesperson on Health, Alan Kelly TD, has slammed the Government for its failure to address the lengthy waiting times for children in need of scoliosis surgery. A report from the Children’s Ombudsman has found that some children are waiting up to 18 months for the procedure, more than four times the recommended period. Commenting…

Labour spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has called the €4 million capital funding in childcare by Minister Katherine Zappone inadequate. “The capital funding in childcare by Minister Zappone is wholly inadequate to address the many problems facing the childcare sector. “Our State has never invested enough in young children and their…

Speaking at the Third International Conference for Child Detainees in Ramallah, Palestine on the 15th March, 2017, Joe Costello, former Minister for Trade and Development, accused the Israeli Government of flagrant breach of international human rights law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. “No other country in the world deals systemically with…