Type: Press

Former Minister for Employment, and Labour Party Senator Ged Nash has said the effective ban on collective bargaining for freelance workers must be ended by the new government. He explained, “Two significant events have occurred this week which requires the Fine Gael/Independents administration to act on this specific matter. “Firstly, on Wednesday night the Dail…

Speaking in support of the creation of a new All-Party Committee on the future of healthcare in Ireland, Cork East Deputy Sean Sherlock has stressed the importance of research and academia in developing an attainable vision for the healthcare services in Ireland for the future. “Speaking as a former Minister of State for Research and…

Cork East Deputy Sean Sherlock has welcomed the Motion to create an All-Party Committee on the future of healthcare in Ireland and has stated that the Labour Party will engage in a productive manner with this new committee. Deputy Sherlock said: “If we are honest we can reasonably assume there is much common ground between…

Joan Burton TD welcomes the governments U-turn on the inclusion of the Environment portfolio from the title of the new Minister. Deputy Burton said: “The Labour Party raised deep concerns at the dropping of this title. While a number of key parts of the Environment brief have been assigned to Ministers the lack of an overarching…

Labour Youth is calling for the Minister for Jobs, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, to support the Labour Party’s workers’ rights motion which is to be voted on in the Dáil this evening.  National Chairperson Grace Williams said: “Earlier today we handed in a letter to the Department of Jobs for the attention of Minister Mary Mitchell…

Speaking after the publication today by the Government of a list of Bills from the previous Dáil session that are to be restored to the Dáil Agenda, Labour Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin expressed his dismay at the abandoning of the Admission to Schools Bill by the Fine Gael-led Government. “The Labour Party in Government made…

In January of this year, Senator Ivana Bacik proposed the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2016 on behalf of the Labour Party Senators, as a private members’ bill which was allowed pass through to Second Stage by then Minister Richard Bruton. Senator Bacik’s Competition (Amendment) Bill stems from a longstanding Labour Party commitment to ensure protection of…

  Speaking after a gathering of the Social Democratic and Labour Party youth group and the Labour Party youth group in Belfast this afternoon, the joint Chairs Conal Browne and Grace Williams issued a statement calling on young people to not underestimate the importance their vote can have on June 23rd “With the referendum on…

Labour’s TDs are today introducing a motion into Dáil Eireann this week to enhance workers’ rights and increase protections for low paid workers. Brendan Howlin said: “All Labour TDs will be supporting this motion when it comes to a vote tomorrow evening. We are now urging members of the public to contact their local TDs…

Labour Tipperary Senator Denis Landy has welcomed news that funding has been secured through the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a new Primary Care Centre in Carrick-On-Suir. Senator Landy said: “I greatly welcome the announcement of funding for a Primary Care Centre in Carrick-On-Suir.   “Typically, local Primary Care Centres, allow people to access locally a…

It is disrespectful to the public and our parliamentary process that the Seanad has not sat since the General Election was called over three months ago. The Seanad cannot sit again until the Taoiseach has appointed his Seanad nominees. I appreciate the importance of the Taoiseach taking time to consider his Seanad nominees. However this…

I welcome the fact that the planned strike action at Tesco stores tomorrow has been deferred as both parties involved in the dispute have agreed to return to the Workplace Relations Commission for further talks. Tesco need to listen to the legitimate and understandable concerns of their hardworking and loyal staff over proposed unilateral changes…

The deliberate removal from the Programme for Government, of any commitment to implement the recommendations of the McMahon report on Direct Provision is beyond disappointing. It is in fact a betrayal of the thousands of people who have found themselves languishing in Direct Provision Centres all around the country. In Government Labour oversaw the publication…

I am encouraged the Taoiseach responded positively to my call at Leaders Questions today to establish a multi-agency task force to combat the rise of gangland crime in Dublin’s North Inner City. The North Inner City is a wonderful neighbourhood with a strong sense of community. It is unacceptable that violence and murder is now…

The killing this morning of Gareth Hutch is both a human tragedy and a shocking reflection on the ineffectiveness of law and order in the North Inner City.  It brings to five the number of revenge attacks on the Hutch family for the shooting dead of a member of the Kinahan gang in the Regency…

“Decent work agenda almost entirely absent from Programme for Government” Labour Senator Ged Nash has welcomed revised CSO figures released today which have shown a further drop in unemployment rates. However he has slammed the fact that the decent work agenda promoted by Labour is almost entirely absent from the Programme for Government. He said:…

Speaking in Dáil Debate on Mental Health The €12 million taken from the Mental Health budget this year, so hard and bravely fought for by former Minister of State Kathleen Lynch, cannot be allowed to fall into the black hole of the general Health budget. That amount will be a comparatively minuscule contribution to the…

The Minister for Justice must as a matter of the upmost urgency lead an all-government response to combat the spiralling rise of violence in Dublin’s North Inner City. It is appalling that another life was lost today to gangland crime. The all-government response should involve the Departments of Justice, Children and Education to ensure there…

Labour Dublin West Deputy Joan Burton has welcomed the CSO’s latest Quarterly National Household Survey figures which show that in April unemployment dropped to 7.9%. But she warned that there can be no room for complacency in particular, as regards, more vulnerable unemployed groups including the long-term unemployed, older unemployed people and younger early school…

The Minister for Children must move to immediately clarify the situation that has reportedly arisen where a child has been removed from the care of their grandparents as they were deemed too old. While the welfare of the child is always of the upmost concern I think we would all agree that keeping a family…

With the question over Labour leadership answered today following the election of Brendan Howlin as the new leader, Labour Youth is looking forward to beginning the party’s rebuild.  Labour Youth National Chairperson Grace Williams said, “I’d like to congratulate Brendan Howlin on his election as Labour Party leader and look forward to meeting with him…

Labour Women today extended their congratulations to Brendan Howlin TD on his election as leader of the Labour Party.   Sinead Ahern, Chair of Labour Women said, “Labour Women would like to congratulate Brendan Howlin as he assumes the role of leader of the Labour Party.  Twelve weeks ago we suffered our worst election result…

The failure of the Government to appoint a Minister of State for the Arts and Heritage will come as a major disappointment for the arts community and represents a missed opportunity by the Government to build bridges with arts practitioners working around the country. Yesterday in the Dail I made the point that the Arts…

I hope the newly appointed Minister of State for Employment and Small Business pursues addressing the concerns of working people with the same vigour and determination as my colleague Ged Nash did as Minister for Business and Employment. Labour in government increased the minimum wage twice and strengthened trade union rights against domestic and international…