Type: Press

Labour Party Housing spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has said she is bringing forward legislation to ban the practice of landlords and letting agents charging potential tenants fees for viewing their property. Deputy O’Sullivan said:  “I was shocked to read over the weekend that some landlords and letting agencies are beginning to charge fees of up…

Labour Dáil Communications spokesperson Séan Sherlock has said there are still outstanding questions about the numerous meetings of a government Minister with the remaining bidder in the National Broadband Plan tender that need to be answered, as it appears the tender process is now compromised. Deputy Sherlock said: “Since the Minister for Communications dramatically resigned…

Labour Social Protection spokesperson Ged Nash has called on the Minister for Social Protection to explain the reasons for the major delays people are encountering in illness benefit payments. Sen. Nash said: “My own office, and those of many of my Labour colleagues have been inundated over the last week with calls from constituents about…

Labour Party Education spokesperson, Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has said that the new Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, needs to rule out student loan schemes.  Senator Ó Ríordáin said: “The Government has been sitting on the report carried out by Peter Cassells into the future of higher education funding for months now. Three options were…

Labour Party Leader and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Brendan Howlin TD has called on the Tánaiste to seek answers from Saudi Arabia about what happened the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Deputy Howlin said: “There have been shocking allegations concerned a prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and has not been…

Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin has said the loss of guaranteed support from two TDs in the last fortnight has destabilised the Government and that now is the time for a general election. Deputy Howlin said: “When this Government was formed in May 2016, it was already inherently unstable. With Fianna Fáil abstaining, the Government…

Labour Dáil Communications spokesperson Seán Sherlock TD has said the National Broadband Plan is now in chaos, and that the Smyth review announced by the Taoiseach is a smokescreen for the decisions and mistakes made over the last two years that have imperiled the plan. Deputy Sherlock said: “The National Broadband plan has been in…

Deputy Penrose stated in response to the increase of the special 9% rate of VAT to 13.5% that the impact of same will be clearly felt in rural based hotels and rural pubs who have restaurants which allowed them to sell food on the premises. Speaking today Deputy Penrose said: “I have been contacted by…

Labour Children spokesperson Séan Sherlock has criticised the failure of the Minister for Children to clearly outline to parents what the changes in Budget 2019 on Affordable Childcare Scheme will mean. There is no one-stop-shop or information source available where parents can find out what they are entitled to under the Affordable Childcare Scheme. Deputy…

Labour Spokesperson on Health, Alan Kelly TD has called on the Minister to provide free access to counselling for young people under 25. Speaking today Deputy Kelly Said: “Today is World Mental Health Day and should give us all pause to consider how far we have come in destigmatising Mental Health issues in Ireland and…

Labour Spokesperson on Climate Action Seán Sherlock TD has slammed the Government for negating its responsibility to act on Climate Change. “This was a missed opportunity to tackle the scourge of single-use plastics. Ireland is the third worst performer in the EU on carbon emissions. On average, we produce 13.5 tonnes of CO2 per person. That’s…

Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin has said that the Government have completely ignored Rosslare Port in Budget 2019. Deputy Howlin said: “Giving his Budget 2019 speech, Paschal Donohoe managed to name every major port in the country when it comes to Brexit preparations bar Rosslare Port. This is shocking and a sign that this Government…

Labour Education spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has criticised the failure of FG and FF to commit to investing in education. There is only an additional €119m in new funding or less than 1% out of a Budget of over €10bn. Senator Ó Ríordáin said: “This is a deeply disappointing Budget for Education. The Fine Gael…

Labour Childcare Spokesperson Seán Sherlock, TD has called for clarity on the widening of Affordable Childcare Scheme thresholds as to who will be entitled to additional support and criticised the Government for not addressing the staffing crisis in childcare. Deputy Sherlock said: “The news that the Affordable Childcare Scheme thresholds are to be increased to…

Labour Housing spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has said today’s housing proposals as part of Budget 2019, show no imagination on behalf of the Government parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and will do nothing to ease the housing crisis when it comes to rent. Deputy O’Sullivan said: “The budgetary measures leaked this overnight show that…

Labour Finance spokesperson Joan Burton TD has advised the Minister for Finance to ensure he double checks his figures this year to avoid the mistake he made with commercial stamp duty in Budget 2018, and noted the extraordinary co-incidence of €1 billion of extra revenue being found four days before this year’s budget. Deputy Burton…

Labour Senator Ivana Bacik has been nominated for an Innovation in Politics Award, 2018 for the Competition (Amendment) Act 2017 which restored to low-paid, vulnerable freelance workers, including freelance journalists, musicians, and actors the fundamental right to be collectively represented by Trade Unions.   This began as a Private Members Bill sponsored by Senator Ivana…

Dublin City Cllr. Andrew Montague has been nominated for an Innovation in Politics award for his work on the Dublin Bike Scheme. Commenting on the nomination today Cllr. Montague said: “It is an honour to be nominated for an Innovation in Politics award. The Dublin Bike Scheme has proven a great success. The blue and…

Speaking during National Breastfeeding Week, Labour Party Equality spokesperson, Councillor Deirdre Kingston, has called on more supports to be made available to women who wish to breastfeed.  Councillor Kingston said:  “As a first-time mother, I know the first-hand the difficulties many new mothers face when it comes to breastfeeding. “With the closure of the Baby-Friendly…

Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD, has said that the Government must not miss the opportunity to build a national primary care system in next week’s Budget. Deputy Kelly said: The Labour Party has consistently advocated for investment in primary care, and introduced free GP care for children under the age of 6 and…

This afternoon, Labour Party Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly TD will be joined by Jan O’Sullivan TD, Councillors Elena Secas, Joe Leddin, Fiona Bonfield, former Clare TD Michael McNamara and local area representatives at University Hospital Limerick to campaign for the addition of a new 60 bed modular bed block to help alleviate the overcrowding in…

On World Teacher’s Day, Labour Education spokesperson, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has said more must be done to address issues that teachers face in the classroom such as class size, in Tuesday’s budget.  Senator Ó Ríordáin said:  “I want to wish all Irish teachers a happy World Teachers’ Day. Teachers right across Ireland do wonderful work…

In Labour’s Alternative Budget 2019, Labour Party Leader and TD for Wexford, Brendan Howlin, has demanded that the money be made available to upgrade Rosslare to a Tier One Port at a cost of €92 million. Deputy Howlin said: “The likelihood of a hard Brexit increases with every week, and the UK has not shown…

Labour Spokesperson for Defence Brendan Ryan has described reports relating to former Private Terry O’Reilly as ‘deeply troubling’. Speaking today Deputy Ryan said: “This situation is deeply troubling. We all know that the housing crisis has extended beyond where anyone would hope the government would have allowed. But to think that someone who served her…