Sinéad Gibney
Dublin Rathdown · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unfortunately, those are still not entirely clear. Although the Windsor Framework did look to enshrine that policy of no diminution of rights and the non-divergence of rights on either side of the Border, that has not been clear in how it is going to play out.”
“I want to raise one specific sector. Within my portfolio, the culture sector is a good example of where we could see a much better offering in the joining together of the two economic activities. For example, we have a very vibrant production sector for film and television.”
“The other word that is important to bring into any economic discussion and fiscal discussion around a united Ireland is "holistic" because, unfortunately at times, I see the Government looking at the economy as a discrete part of society and neglecting things that fall outside of economic discussion, economic imperatives, and policymaking…”
“There are ways that we can see how our governance of this jurisdiction can be improved simply by the opportunities that will be presented by opening up constitutional change and the discussions that we are all going to have about how we govern ourselves right now and how we may govern an entire island of Ireland.”
“When the Minister of State referred to office roles in Brussels, was he describing roles in NATO headquarters? The international forces the Minister of State is describing are exactly like the coalition that invaded Iraq.”
“I look forward to coming back to the topic of the triple lock in a few questions' time. I have read with extreme concern the reports over the past week on the lack of support provided by the Department of Defence to Women of Honour, whose members are participating in the Defence Forces tribunal.”
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“I thank Sinn Féin for introducing this Bill, which aims to empower the Minister for Finance to impose restrictions on securities issued by the State of Israel. Ireland is the home country for Israeli bonds sold in the European Union. It is up to non-EU countries to decide which member state they want to sell their bonds from. The Central Bank can only object if it believes it has no legal jurisdiction for the approval. This Bill intends to change that. The sale of these bonds makes us complicit in Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people. It is clear that the money raised from these bonds is being used to finance genocide in Gaza.”
“Will the Bill be enacted by then? If not, will the Taoiseach agree to sit during the recess for as long as it takes to ensure that the occupied territories Bill becomes law?”
“On his way to Cabinet today, the Tánaiste said that people wanted more than fine words on Gaza and that they wanted action. I could not agree more, which is why I cannot understand why it has taken until today for the Tánaiste to bring to Cabinet legislation to ban trade with the occupied territories. We are now nearly six months into this Government's term. Does that represent urgency or strong action? As if that was not bad enough, the Government has signalled that it will not include services in the Bill, which means that a major component of trade will continue to flow even after the Bill is enacted. Gaza and its people are being erased before our eyes. I am deeply concerned that this Government is dragging its heels with this crucial legislation. The Dáil will go into recess for the summer from mid-July so we are running out of time.”
“We need sanctions, the same as have been imposed on Russia. We need to see true leadership from our EU leaders and from this Government.”
“Even now, our failure to act in a concrete way, to lead as a nation with such a clear solidarity between our people and the people of Palestine, fails us all because in our thousands and in our millions we are all Palestinians. I would like to set out clearly what our asks are, as the Social Democrats. At domestic level, enact the occupied territories Bill, including as it relates to goods and services; stop the sale of Israeli bonds from our Central Bank; end illegal weapons flights over Irish airspace and inspect planes; remove the flawed International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, definition of antisemitism; examine the sale of dual-use goods; and use our diplomatic influence at EU level to seek EU-level recognition of the State of Palestine. The review of the association agreement is welcome but it is revoking a privilege.”
“Crimes against humanity are called that because these crimes are an attack on every living person on this earth. If we accept them anywhere, we say that human life and dignity is optional. It has desensitised us to similar crimes the world over. Hospitals and civilian areas are bombed and attacked in Ukraine, Sudan and Congo. Our failure to protect the lives of the people of Gaza is a failure to protect all humanity. Last week, I attended a briefing with healthcare workers for Palestine. One Government representative showed up to that. I really wish more of them had been there because what I saw and what was shared in that briefing room will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
“This propaganda and the actions of this Israeli Government have led to a normalisation of horrendous war crimes considered up until now beyond reproach. In the past few months, we have seen what was unthinkable become normal. At the beginning of the genocide, people were incredulous that Israel would bomb a hospital, a university, a school. More than a year and a half later, air strikes on hospitals, which are still heinous war crimes, have been completely normalised. They have been normalised by the impunity that Israel enjoys. Our lack of action as a nation, as an EU bloc, has legitimised that because anyone who believes in justice, in international law, who believes that these things are crimes against humanity, surely would have done something, anything, everything to stop it.”
“I condemn Hamas, but even now my words on the genocide are discounted by many and set aside if I do not take the time to repeat that condemnation of Hamas and its attack, time and again. We are not allowed to say what is before our eyes without indulging cynical both-sides narratives, something that the UN rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, called out live on RTÉ a number of weeks ago. All this, while blatant evidence of the murder of paramedics and the subsequent cover-up is countered by copied lines from the Israel Defense Forces press releases in the name of balance. We are not allowed to focus on the genocide without paying some respect to the official Israeli line no matter how high the lies pile up.”
“While Israeli Government representatives are free to go on news panels, to give official lines and blatant lies that are accepted as true, editors all across the Western nations make sure to remind us that reported figures of dead children are from a Hamas-run health ministry. The words of Israel are never qualified by the fact that its Prime Minister is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. We are told massacres cannot be independently verified, as I heard on the RTÉ News just this morning, with no acknowledgement that it is impossible to independently verify such statistics in Gaza because of the blockade. Always we are given an invitation to mistrust Palestinians reporting on the crimes committed against them but to accept whatever Israel says.”
“When it comes to reporting and the media, it is important to recognise the incredible work done by many Irish journalists. I would single out the coverage of RTÉ's "Drive Time" in particular. However, there are many ways in which reporting and journalism have been hugely problematic over the past 18 months. I have heard directly, as I am sure many in this Chamber have, from Palestinians and their allies how terrifying it is to be silenced in the face of genocide. Gaza is the deadliest place on the planet in which to be a journalist. Some 73% of journalists killed globally last year were in Palestine.”
“Caithfimid a admháil nach bhfuil Éire tar éis a dóthain a dhéanamh chun an cinedhíothú a stopadh. Sa chéad óráid a thug mé os comhair na Dála, bhíomar ag glaoch ar an Rialtas an occupied territories Bill a chur i bhfeidhm. Ceithre mhí níos déanaí, níl sé déanta aige. Tá sé soiléir le fada céard ar cóir dúinn déanamh. This Government has time and again defended inaction by stating that Ireland has done more than other nations to support the Palestinian people, but the bar is not merely on the floor, it is hidden under the rubble of Gaza. In my comments today, I will speak specifically about the role of the media and the nature of reporting throughout this genocide and about the normalisation of many breaches of international law and order.”
“What is the EU waiting for? What further evidence does it need? When will we see sanctions and Israel treated like a pariah state run by war criminals?”
“After nearly two years of slaughter, destruction and devastation in Gaza, the EU has finally run out of excuses for inaction. A review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement has finally been authorised. I welcome the Government's support for it. How long is this review going to last? The Israeli state is not just engaged in an openly genocidal campaign in Gaza; Israeli Government officials are now boasting about it. The Taoiseach mentioned Minister Smotrich earlier and I would like to quote him: We are disassembling Gaza, and leaving it as piles of rubble, with total destruction [which has] no precedent globally. And the world isn't stopping us. Netanyahu praised these comments. His Government has abandoned all humanity. Its clear policy is to starve, murder and maim Palestinians in Gaza before ethnically cleansing any survivors.”
“I was really disheartened earlier to hear the Taoiseach's response during Leaders' Questions because it seemed to be simply about numbers. The argument is that the numbers are so overwhelming that the Government and the State cannot respond to this. It just seems to lack such vision and ambition as to what inclusive education should be. This is not special education we are looking for; we are looking for an education system that recognises and meets the needs of everybody within it. In 1966 Donogh O'Malley announced free education, and a year later it was brought in. He was a Fianna Fáil Minister, it was an unannounced speech and that was transformation that happened like that. This Government is lacking that vision, that ambition and the commitment that is required to transform our education system into one that is inclusive.”
“Where there is not one there should be one, and it should recognise the power dynamic of the State having a lot more legal power to bring to those battles and what it is doing by fighting tooth and nail against people who are simply trying to realise those rights. Many of those people are people in my constituency, people who have been in contact with me and my team, who tell us about how they have simply had to put their lives on hold and how they have had to reshape their whole families around the fact that their children cannot access assessments of need or the appropriate services. As we have heard from many speakers today, this is of course simply the first hurdle because assessment of need is only the thing that allows us to get into the queues for the many services that are required for people to participate fully in society.”
“One point I do not want to be lost in this debate - there has been an awful lot of discussion about this today - is the fact that when these rights are denied, in so many instances we then see the State fight with all its legal might against those families who are simply trying to realise their rights. That alone is something this Government must look at. I do not know that there is a litigation policy. I have been advised that there is not necessarily a policy that sets in place how the State determines whether or not it will bring such legal might against vulnerable families who are simply trying to realise their rights.”
“Hi, Cara. We have not had a chance to meet yet, but thank you for everything you are doing. I hope to pop out to you tomorrow morning to say hello. I have met so many people in the disability community and in my work in the rights and equality space who, like Cara, have had to become advocates and experts in rights and equality simply to realise their own rights because the State is failing them so badly and because they are not able to access the appropriate services, the seirbhísí cuí, that they should simply have available to them by virtue of the legal status provided for in our Constitution. Time and again, the onus is just put back on citizens to take up the slack where the State is letting them down.”
“We need to plan so we do not reach these crisis points again and do not have to reiterate the frustrations of all our constituents, who are contacting us about these issues. We can speed up these processing times without compromising standards, which is crucial, but it requires investment in overall capacity.”
“I will give the Minister of State a sample of some of the most recent emails I have received. One woman has been waiting for a test for more than 39 weeks. An individual has been told to wait eight months for a test. A student who needs to sit the test to drive to college has a nine-month wait ahead. A young man desperately needs a full licence because his job requires it but has been given a wait time of months before he can sit the test. Although this is a perennial problem that arises again and again, the solutions do not have to be that complex. We must create and fill new posts. We must ensure that the terms and conditions are adequate. As my colleagues have pointed out, it is not fair that we would ask too much of one person in one centre and be dependent on him or her.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his statement. I can imagine how difficult it is to sit here and listen to every single Deputy talk about the challenges in his or her area, but I am going to have to add my own to the list. Being unable to get a test affects people in so many different ways. It is not just about their independence. It is about being able to reach whole swathes of the country that are only accessible by car. Many constituents have contacted me about how their inability to get a test is stopping them from availing of job and educational opportunities. Those with caring responsibilities have it even worse. It is hugely frustrating and out of their control. It simply represents a public service that is not given the resources it needs.”
“What is nonsense is the fact that the right to work from home in this country is so weak. Employers need only consider a request. There is no obligation to provide for the right. Perhaps if it were stronger O'Brien himself would not have had to have become a tax exile in Malta.”
“Billionaire Denis O'Brien, who was found by a tribunal to have given corrupt payments to Michael Lowry, has a new problem with the rights for ordinary Irish workers. Speaking at a recent event, O'Brien described working from home as a load of nonsense and part of an entitlement culture that has totally destroyed our work ethic and compromised productivity. I will park the irony of a man who was awarded a mobile phone licence after he made secret payments of €500,000 to a Minister decrying an entitlement culture, and instead focus on how he is completely factually wrong. Ireland is one of the most productive countries in the world. The right to work from home has helped to increase our labour force, removing barriers for people who have disabilities, lone parents and others.”
“In the European Union, we have a goal of 80% of collective bargaining coverage, but Ireland's rate stands at just 34%. If employers do not want to recognise trade unions, then they simply do not have to. This speaks back to the imbalance of power. I have worked in the private sector and the public sector and have been self-employed. As long as employers do not have to, they are not going to pursue anything that is going to affect their bottom line. This is just how the profit-making world works. The State, therefore, has to provide these supports for workers. This situation speaks to the fact that, as a country, we have a long-standing tradition of trade unionism despite the poor record of Government. Tá tábhacht na gceardchumann fite fuaite i stair na hÉireann. Caithfimid foghlaim ón stair sin.”
“This is the issue I have with the Government's approach to workers' rights. We are told the barriers to workers' rights include the challenges for businesses to get up and running and meet all their obligations, and we appreciate that the Government has pursued a supportive programme of measures for employers and businesses. We agree with that in the Social Democrats and do not see any barrier to it. What we do have an issue with is the imbalance. Similar commitments are made to workers, which, sadly, are never delivered upon. One after the other, we see this happening again and again. The reality is that we are out of step in continuing to support such a voluntarist model. The Bill speaks to the beginning of moving to a situation where employers must recognise trade unions and the right to collective bargaining.”
“I put it to the Minister of State before us that there is a consistent pushing back that the Constitution is a barrier to the realisation of these rights, but it is not. The Government must get on board with this. The second point I wish to touch on concerning the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is what he said about the voluntarist system, which he believes serves us so well. The phrases he used included "This long-standing tradition of a voluntarist system has served us well through the decades", "The voluntarist system of industrial relations allows for tailored solutions" and "the voluntarist system has contributed to industrial peace and stability." I think there is a bit of a typo there, though, because it has served us well as employers, not as workers and not as the State.”
“It asked whether the Constitution was a barrier or a facilitator to the rights of collective bargaining. Referring to its determination, I will read the final conclusion. I urge the Government and Deputy Lawlor, who just spoke about the Geoghegan ruling, which is gone into in detail in the report, to take note of it. It states: We therefore conclude that Constitution is not a barrier to a statutory right to collective bargaining, and that no constitutional change would be necessary to facilitate a statutory right of this sort. The legislature is free to pursue such a course, having careful regard to safeguards that would ensure all other relevant constitutional rights and principles are respected. I appreciate that within the response, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, was speaking to the specifics of this Bill.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an nGrúpa Teicniúil um Neamhspleáigh agus Páirtithe as ucht an Bille seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. We in the Social Democrats are happy to support this Bill. I speak first to some of the comments made by the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in his response to this legislation. I wish to push back especially on the continued narrative we hear that the Constitution essentially says "No". I wish to draw the Government's attention to something I did two weeks ago when we were celebrating International Workers Day. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, an organisation I previously worked in, commissioned independent research in December 2023 that put paid to this idea.”
“As my story shows, and as is the case for many parents up and down the country, having choices opens up lives to new possibilities and options. They must be real choices. We cannot limit those options through a lack of availability, means or action from those making educational policy.”
“Parents and children should not have to lobby and campaign for schools that meet their needs and provide that choice. Le fada tá an Roinn Oideachais tar éis an dualgas a chur ar thuismitheoirí a chruthú go bhfuil éileamh do scoileanna lán-Ghaeilge agus troid ar son oideachas dá bpáistí. Is cúis díomá é dom go bhfuil an dualgas céanna á chur ar thuismitheoirí atá ag iarraidh oideachas neamhchreidmheach We have a clear target to meet of 400 multidenominational and interdenominational schools by 2030. We are behind, but it is not too late. Parents and children should be free to seek an education which aligns with their values. That must become a reality for parents and children who do not want religious education in school.”
“We are both atheists. I had two options available, one fee-paying and one non-fee-paying. We applied for both, but it did not look like we were going to be accepted to the non-fee-paying option so we signed up for the fee-paying option. We bought uniforms, picked subjects and planned everything. Three weeks before the start of school, my daughter was accepted to the non-fee-paying school. That changed our lives. It was the reason I was able to leave the corporate sector. As a single mum who was paying a mortgage, the crippling fees I was expected to pay to one of the highest fee-paying schools in the country would have meant I was unable to leave that job and pursue what I wanted, which was public service and human rights and equality work.”
“This is something I have carried with me into this role. My constituency of Dublin Rathdown has nearly 3,000 children in multidenominational primary schools out of a total of 13,500, which is nearly 20%. For comparison, about 1,500 are taught through Irish, which is about 10%. That choice level is way above the national average and yet still I receive constant calls from parents who are so frustrated that they cannot find an educational setting that matches with their values, ideologies and choices. I will talk about my personal experience in this regard. When I raised my daughter as a single parent, I came to second-level education choices with two clear asks. I wanted her to remain in a coeducational setting, which she had enjoyed in primary school, and I wanted her to enjoy multidenominational or interdenominational education.”
“I thank Deputy Jen Cummins for the great work she has put into this. I oppose the Government's amendment, which is so disappointing given that these are really practical and strong recommendations that we believe can bring to life the parental choice we are all seeking in the education system. This is a rights issue for me. I was in Geneva in 2016 in my previous work in the human rights space at the examination of Ireland under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In between sessions, one gets a chance to talk to the committee members. The jaws of these experts were literally on the ground when they heard about the figures for school patronage in this country - that there was so little choice for people who simply did not wish to have education provided to their children in a Catholic setting.”
“That is why I am left asking why we are pivoting away from human rights accountability and transparency in the deployment of our troops and jeopardising our long-held gold standard reputation for peacekeeping.”
“EU missions have received UN mandates before. I mentioned, for example, Operation Sophia and, in that instance, the mandate guaranteed the human rights monitoring and other checks and balances that are vital to missions like these. We pulled out of the UN mission in Syria not due to a lack of mandate but due to a lack of troops. The reason we had that lack of troops was that we committed to a non-UN-backed EU battlegroup that is not accountable to either the European Parliament or the European Court of Human Rights. If I genuinely believed that we were boxed in in the way the Tánaiste describes, I would be with him on this, but there is no evidence to that effect.”
“In answer to the first of the two questions posed by the Tánaiste, I am aware that, of course, there are other countries that are militarily neutral that do not have a triple lock. However, they did not arrive at their position of neutrality in the same historic pathway as we did with the Nice and Lisbon treaties, simple as that. The other question the Tánaiste asked concerned whether the people of Ireland want those missions to be stopped, which once again brings us into the hypothetical - the “What ifs?” or “Would you?” - and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, did exactly the same when we had a debate on this a number of weeks ago. This veto is posed as a "What if?” or "Why are we there?" It seems the Government wishes to justify this massive policy change with no examples of the actual issue arising for peacekeeping.”
“In fact, many UN peacekeeping missions have had their mandates renewed, including the Golan Heights, and UN mandates were given to Operation Sophia and the mission in Haiti established last year. The Tánaiste mentioned the time the General Assembly was used. They based it on the "uniting for peace" resolution, which can be deployed. These are the facts and the Tánaiste's answer does not adequately address them. Can he point me to when a peacekeeping mission has been prevented or even hampered because the General Assembly did not do its job?”
“I thank the Tánaiste for his answer. Once again he said he supports military neutrality but it appears not when we see the actions the Government is taking and this proposal before us. While he positions the change as something he has to do because he cannot secure the UN mandate, the facts do not justify it. I am left to assume he does not want to have that UN mandate applied to our peacekeeping missions and the human rights monitoring and transparency it demands. The reality is the General Assembly endorsement can satisfy our triple lock. I will go through some of these facts. China vetoed the renewal of the Macedonia mission in 1999 due to its recognition of Taiwan. No peacekeeping mission has been blocked since.”
“In the context of the ongoing discussions around the triple lock, which have been referenced, and the Government's proposal to dismantle it, I ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence whether a peacekeeping mission deployment has ever been unable to proceed due to the lack of agreement of the UN General Assembly since the introduction of the triple lock, which is a measure provided for in the Defence (Amendment) Act.”
“A public system of childcare is what we need. It is done in so many other countries. It guarantees wages for staff, stability and affordability for parents and ensures that child welfare is never in competition with profit margins. I am happy to endorse the motion and the amendments we have proposed.”
“Many people are already put to the pin of the collar and this places great additional strain on them. I also will speak to the gendered aspect of this because as we all know, this crisis disproportionately affects women. They are the majority of low-paid childcare workers and they - we - are often the ones expected to stay at home when childcare is not available or affordable in a family. We know that countries that have proper support for parents have better gender equality, smaller pay gaps and better outcomes for children and their parents. We also know that the solutions are in front of us. This motion calls for timely action on the consultation and action plan in order that we can see the public provision of childcare happen and the realisation of those election promises to provide public affordable childcare.”
“I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. My constituency of Dublin Rathdown has the most expensive childcare in the country. I hear from people every week in emails, whether they are people I am in contact with or they contact me, who talk about the twin problems of cost and capacity, that is, the absolute crippling cost to families and the chronic lack of places. Those two inevitabilities end up with people either having to leave the workplace to provide childcare in their own home or a strain on families who are already squeezed by the cost of rent, groceries and electricity. I echo Deputy Farrelly’s comments on equality. Although we have the most expensive childcare in the country in Rathdown that does not mean we have a homogenous group of people who can afford it. We are not all affluent in Dublin Rathdown.”
“These principles have delivered plenty for ordinary people but as I said earlier, the good we do is not a guarantee or a coincidence; it is something we worked hard for across the continent. If we want to strengthen those bonds and keep improving people's lives, we must recommit to that work.”
“In Gaza, since the genocide began, there have been loud calls for the EU to take action; to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement on human rights grounds; to recognise Palestinian statehood at EU level and across member states; and to stop selling weapons to Israel. Sadly, what we have seen is unequivocal support for Israel from Commissioner von der Leyen, a commission president whom Government MEPs supported as members of the EPP. EU funds are also being used to subsidise arms manufacturing which supplies Israel with its weapons of ethnic cleansing. The European Union is not perfect but it sure is worth fighting for. The values of peace, prosperity and solidarity are what brought us together after two devastating world wars. These values tied us together and helped us to lift each other up.”
“Climate is the existential issue of our generation and it is worrying to see the corporate sustainability and due diligence directive under attack. This legislation, which guarantees that companies do not continue to consume fossil fuels and pollute with abandon and are accountable to the people they harm, is under attack in the name of competitiveness. Our time to act is running out and we should be going stronger, not weaker, on climate. Regarding trade, we should be defending the high standards for the things we buy and the things we make. It is not anticompetitive to say we cannot tolerate human rights abuses and slavery in our supply chains. That is what was guaranteed at European level in the corporate sustainability and due diligence directive, which was agreed and passed last year but is now under attack.”
“The pressure is so overwhelming that instead of standing up to it, our Government is seeking to undo the guarantees provided for in the Nice and Lisbon treaty referendums. These are the specific safeguards against EU militarisation and the specific promises that the EU is about economic and social prosperity, not another military bloc aimed at protecting its interests by any means necessary. This is not how it has to be. We should be exerting greater pressure at European level on issues like Ukraine, climate, trade and Gaza. For Ukraine, we need a just and lasting peace and to keep Ukrainian civilians at the centre of that discussion. While Europe supplies military aid, the amount of humanitarian aid has been inadequate.”
“We cannot have silence from our Government when we are fighting for the very soul of what the EU can be and achieve as a force for good. Meanwhile, the EU has pivoted focus to other issues, chief among them militarisation and the rapid move away from peace and towards war. Instead of focusing on the erosion of workers' rights, environmental protections and social prosperity, which have given our citizens hope for the future, Europe has bent the fiscal rules and has its sights set on war as the key thing we are guaranteeing for future generations. Young people across the EU have social rights, housing and climate as their top priorities. Our leadership seems to have lost interest in solving those issues in Europe.”
“If we want strong support for European Union membership, we must address European issues and represent the views of our citizens. We must not be afraid to lead, push back and discuss issues like Gaza in Brussels. People feel disconnected from Europe, and frankly, it suits the Government for people to feel this way. If we feel disempowered and disconnected, there is no scrutiny or accountability for bad trade deals, a lack of action on the genocide in Gaza and sometimes active support for Israel. There is no responsibility taken for people drowning in the Mediterranean. Europe is not some far-off place we have no say in. Member states have trampled on the civil liberties and human rights that a few short years ago we would all have proclaimed to be at the very core of the European Union, in Germany, Hungary and Poland.”
“It is also important to acknowledge that the positives of the European Union are not accidents. They did not just happen; we as member states made those things happen. European policy and directives do not just mysteriously appear; they are supported, pushed for and shaped by governments around our continent. We prioritised the rights of workers, the importance of clean air and water and a focus on improving the lives of our citizens. Sadly, we are now seeing member states turn away from these priorities. During the European Union elections last year, I learned about the very different attitudes that exist towards Europe and European Union membership here in Ireland, particularly among young people. Naming these attitudes and issues does not make us anti-Europe. We must understand and represent the concerns of Irish people.”
“We in the Social Democrats are a party of proud Europeans and active members of the European Union. We see it as our obligation not to be passive members in the Union but to question EU policy and law and what it means for us here in Ireland on an ongoing basis. European Union membership has pushed Ireland into a more progressive place over the decades. Our membership of the European Union has given us many great things as a society: better employment rights; better women's rights in workplaces and beyond; environmental protections; funding for community and regional development; broader educational opportunities through Erasmus programmes and freedom of movement; economic prosperity; and an outlook on the world that goes beyond our own small island. It is important to celebrate these things today.”
“We need to rebalance the power in our workplaces instead of leaving it to the benevolence of employers to engage with and value their workers.”