Social Democrats (Ireland)

The Social Democrats (Irish: Na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta)^[5] are a centre-left,^[4][6] social-democratic political party in Ireland.^[3] The party was launched on 15 July 2015 by three independent Teachtaí Dála, Catherine Murphy, and Róisín Shortall, and Stephen Donnelly. It promotes the Nordic model^[7] and pro-European views.^[4]

Social Democrats Na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta
Leader	Holly Cairns
Deputy leader	Cian O'Callaghan
General Secretary	Vacant
Chairperson	Síle Ní Dhubhghaill^[1]
Vice-chair	Angela Flynn^[1]
Founders	Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Stephen Donnelly
Founded	15 July 2015 (2015-07-15)
Headquarters	28 South Frederick St, Dublin
Membership (2021)	+2,000^[2]
Ideology	Social democracy^[3]
Political position	Centre-left^[4]
Colours	Purple
Dáil Éireann	6 / 160
Local government	20 / 949
Website
www.socialdemocrats.ie
Politics of the Republic of Ireland Political parties Elections

Holly Cairns

Gary Gannon

Catherine Murphy

Cian O'Callaghan

Róisín Shortall

Jennifer Whitmore

The 6 members of the Social Democrats in Dáil Eireann, as of 2020.

On 22 February 2023, Murphy and Shortall announced their departure as leaders of the party. They were succeeded by Holly Cairns who was elected unopposed on 1 March 2023.

History

Founding and early elections

The Social Democrats was established with a co-leadership arrangement between its three founding members. Róisín Shortall is a former Labour Party TD and former Minister of State at the Department of Health. She resigned from the role and from Labour in September 2012, citing lack of support and the lack of an explanation from then-Minister for Health James Reilly concerning his controversial decision to locate a new primary care centre in his own constituency.^[8] Catherine Murphy was successively a member of the Workers' Party, Democratic Left and the Labour Party before being elected as an independent TD in 2005. Stephen Donnelly first entered politics as an independent TD in the 2011 general election, having previously worked as a consultant for McKinsey and Company. Both Murphy and Donnelly were members of the Technical Group in the 31st Dáil, with Murphy having served as its Chief Whip.

The party ran fourteen candidates in the 2016 general election, including its three incumbent TDs, former Labour Party Senator James Heffernan, and county councillors Gary Gannon and Cian O'Callaghan.^[9]

In May 2016, the party formed a technical group within the Dáil with the Green Party.^[10][11]

On 5 September 2016, Stephen Donnelly resigned as joint leader and left the party, stating that he was doing so "with great sadness, having vested so much together with my parliamentary colleagues, Catherine and Roisin, a small core team and many volunteers across the country, into the establishment of the Social Democrats over the last 20 months", but referring to his relationship with his fellow leaders, that "some partnerships simply don't work".^[12] On 2 February 2017, he joined Fianna Fáil.^[13]

Through 2017, the Social Democrats recruited several sitting county councillors, including Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow County Council), Joe Harris (Cork County Council), Dermot Looney (South Dublin County Council), and Paul Mulville (Fingal County Council).^[14][15][16] In February 2018, June Murphy (Cork County Council) joined the party. In 2022, Mary Roche (Waterford County Council) joined the party.^[17]

In May 2019, 19 of the party's 58 candidates were elected as councillors its first local elections. The party also contested their first European Parliament elections in May 2019, with sitting councillor Gary Gannon receiving 20,331 votes (5.6% of the total vote) in the Dublin constituency. The party did not contest the other Irish constituencies of Midlands-North-West or South at this election.

In November 2019, the party contested 3 of the 4 by-elections caused by the election of Irish TDs to the European Parliament, but did not win any seats, with their candidates all receiving between 2.5% and 4.4% of the vote.

In the 2020 general election, the party ran 20 candidates in 20 constituencies, and increased their seats to six, despite a small fall in the number of first preference votes received.

Since 2017,^[18] Alan Kelly of the Labour Party has made repeated calls for the Social Democrats to merge with the Labour party,^[19] but has been firmly rebuffed each time by the Social Democrats' party leadership, who say there is no interest of any kind in such a move.^[20][21][22]

Holly Cairns as leader

On 22 February 2023, Murphy and Shortall announced that they would step down as co-leaders of the Social Democrats.^[23] Only Holly Cairns put her name forward, and she was announced as the new leader on 1 March.^[24][25] On becoming leader, Cairns reiterated that the Social Democrats have no interest in merging with the Labour Party, and that housing and Sláintecare would be red line issues for the Social Democrats in any coalition talks with any party.^[26] On 4 July 2023 It was announced that Cian O'Callaghan had been appointed to the newly created role of deputy party leader.^[27][28]

Ideology and policies

At the party's launch, its three TDs stated their support for the Nordic model of social democracy, backed the repeal of the Eighth Amendment and the Official Secrets Act, and stated their opposition to domestic water charges.^[29][30][31] The party's manifesto for the 2016 general election listed commitments to "three core areas":

• Policies that support a healthy, inclusive and progressive society
• Policies that ensure a strong, stable and vibrant economy, and support Ireland's SMEs with the same vigour that is applied to the multinational sector
• Policies that make politics and government more transparent and responsive to public, rather than party need^[32]

It supports Irish membership of the European Union. The party is also in favour of a directly elected mayor of Dublin.^[33]

Health policies

One of the core policies put forward by the party is that of Sláintecare, an Irish national health service. Sláintecare is a fully costed plan for a universal, single-tier public health service that would join up health and social care in the Republic of Ireland. Sláintecare was developed as the result of a cross-Party Oireachtas Committee chaired by Róisín Shortall, which sought to examine the issue of healthcare in Ireland. The report was published in May 2017 and marked the first time cross-party consensus was achieved on a new model of healthcare in Ireland.^[34] The party's Sláintecare policy plan also includes (but is not limited to): a legal entitlement to homecare packages for older people, significantly reducing prescription charges and lowering costs for medicines, providing access to basic procedures at a local level, and improved funding for mental health, including counselling, community programmes, and adult mental health teams.^[35]

Housing policies

The Social Democrats are in favour of universal access to affordable housing.^[36][37] In May 2017 the party published the Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill to eliminate loopholes to the vacant site levy and increase penalties for developers engaged in land hoarding.^[38] In January 2018 the party called for a nationwide rent freeze.^[39] In December 2019 the party proposed a motion of no-confidence in housing minister Eoghan Murphy.^[40]

Social policies

The Social Democrats have published legislation on equal access and non-religious discrimination in schools,^[41] extended unpaid parental leave^[42] and greater minimum notice periods for residential tenancies.^[43] The party called for a yes vote in the Referendum to Repeal the Eighth Amendment on 25 May 2018.^[44] At its 2018 National Conference, the party became one of the few in Ireland – along with People Before Profit – to formally adopt a position calling for repeal of anti-sex work legislation (Part 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017), and support decriminalisation of sex work, in line with the New Zealand model.

Anti-corruption

The party has called for the establishment of an independent anti-corruption agency in Ireland to tackle white-collar crime and corruption in the corporate world and political spheres.^[45][46]

Leadership

Leader

Name	Portrait	Period	Constituency
Catherine Murphy, Róisín Shortall & Stephen Donnelly		2015–2016	Kildare North, Dublin North West & Wicklow
Catherine Murphy & Róisín Shortall		2016–2023	Kildare North & Dublin North West
Holly Cairns		2023–present	Cork South-West

Deputy leader

Name	Portrait	Period	Constituency
Cian O'Callaghan		2023–present	Dublin Bay North

Election results

Main article: Social Democrats (Ireland) election results

Dáil Éireann

Election	Co-leaders	1st pref votes	%	Seats	±	Government
2016	Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall Stephen Donnelly	64,094	3.0 (#7)	3 / 158		Opposition
2020^[47]	Catherine Murphy Róisín Shortall	63,397	2.9 (#6)	6 / 160	3	Opposition

Local elections

Election	1st pref Votes	%	Seats	+/–
2019	39,644	2.3	19 / 949

European Parliament

Election	1st pref Votes	%	Seats	+/–
2019	20,331	1.2 (#8)	0 / 13

Electoral performance

2016 general election

The party fielded 15 candidates and received 3% of first preference votes nationally with its three leaders re-elected on the first count in their respective constituencies.^[48]

2019 local and European elections

The Social Democrats contested their first European Parliament elections in May 2019, with Councillor Gary Gannon running for election in the Dublin constituency.^[49] Gannon received 5.6% of the first-preference votes, finishing 6th out of 19 candidates in the first count. He was eliminated on the 14th count.

The party also contested their first local elections in May 2019. The Social Democrats put forward 58 candidates for seats on local councils. 55% of the candidates were women, making it the second highest percentage of female candidates put forward among all political parties.^[50] 19 of the 58 candidates were elected, more than trebling the party's representation in local government.^[51] Ellie Kisyombe, a Malawi-born asylum seeker running for the Social Democrats in Dublin's North Inner City LEA, was retained after a review of inconsistencies in her account of her asylum history and time in Direct Provision, which caused several party members to resign from the National Executive.^[52]

Mary Callaghan, who was elected to represent Ballymun-Finglas on Dublin City Council in 2019 was elected Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin to Green Party Lord Mayor Hazel Chu in 2020.^[53] In January 2022, Eoin O'Broin, an independent councillor previously elected to South Dublin County Council, joined the party.^[54] In November 2022, Mary Roche, an independent councillor who was co-opted onto Waterford City and County Council in 2020, joined the party.^[17] In January 2023, Owen Hanley resigned his membership of the Social Democrats and his Galway City Council seat, pending an investigation into use of an anonymous social media account.^[55] His seat was co-opted by Alan Curran in February.^[56] In February 2023, Catherine Stocker, elected to the Clontarf local electoral area of Dublin City Council, became the first council member to be able to avail of maternity leave. Karl Stanley was co-opted to fill her seat for the duration.^[57]

2020 general election

The Social Democrats fielded 20 candidates in the 2020 general election. They returned six TDs to the Dáil in February 2020: Murphy and Shortall were re-elected in their constituencies, and were joined by Holly Cairns in Cork South-West, Gary Gannon in Dublin Central, Cian O'Callaghan in Dublin Bay North and Jennifer Whitmore in Wicklow. The Social Democrats finished level on seats with the Labour Party and exceeded the seats of other left-leaning parties Solidarity–People Before Profit and Independents 4 Change.^[58]

References

1. "About us - Social Democrats". from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
2. O'Halloran, Marie; McGee, Harry (27 February 2021). "Social Democrats to explore options for growth in Northern Ireland". The Irish Times. from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
3. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Ireland". Parties and Elections in Europe. from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
4. "Ireland". Europe Elects. from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
5. "An Draoi Gramadaí: daonlathaí sóisialta". www.teanglann.ie (in Irish). Retrieved 11 November 2020.
6. Halpin, Padraic (15 July 2015). "Social Democrats latest new Irish party ahead of uncertain elections". Reuters. from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
7. Murphy, Catherine (19 July 2015). "We have a Swede dream for the future of Ireland". The Sunday Times. from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
8. "Roisin Shortall resigns as junior health minister". RTÉ News. 26 September 2012. from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
9. "Social Democrats reveal five election candidates". BreakingNews.ie. 4 August 2015. from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
10. . Archived from the original on 30 June 2016.
11. Social Democrats (30 May 2016). "We can confirm we have entered into a Technical Arrangement (Tech Group) with @greenparty_ie for this Dáil". Twitter.com. from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
12. "'Some partnerships simply don't work' - Stephen Donnelly quits Social Democrats in major blow for party". 5 September 2016.
13. Leahy, Pat (2 February 2017). "Wicklow TD Stephen Donnelly to join Fianna Fáil, party says". Irishtimes.com. from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
14. "Cork County Councillor Joe Harris joins the Social Democrats". 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
15. "South Dublin County Councillor Dermot Looney joins the Social Democrats". Social Democrats (Ireland). 8 June 2017. from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
16. "Councillor Paul Mulville joins the Social Democrats". Social Democrats (Ireland). 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
17. "Waterford Cllr. Mary Roche Joins The Social Democrats". Social Democrats. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
18. McEnroe, Juno (17 August 2017). "Alan Kelly urges Labour to merge with Social Democrats". Irish Examiner. from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
19. Loughlin, Elaine (28 December 2020). "Labour leader open to party merger with Social Democrats". Irish Examiner. from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
20. Leahy, Pat (21 August 2017). "Social Democrats reject merger overtures from Labour". Irish Times. from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
21. O'Connell, Hugh (28 February 2021). "Social Democrats scotch Kelly's suggestion of Labour merger". Irish Independent. from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
22. Catherine Murphy TD in TASC Conversations with Decision Makers. Event occurs at 1:00:30. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
23. Meskill, Tommy (22 February 2023). "Shortall and Murphy to stand down as co-leaders of Social Democrats". RTÉ News. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
24. "Holly Cairns puts herself forward for Social Democrats leader". Retrieved 26 February 2023.
25. Cunningham, Paul (1 March 2023). "New Soc Dems leader Holly Cairns rules out any electoral pact". RTÉ News. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
26. Hosford, Paul (1 March 2023). "Holly Cairns: Future of Social Democrats 'does not include a merger with Labour'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
27. McAuley, Eimer (4 July 2023). "Dublin TD Cian O' Callaghan appointed as first Deputy Leader of the Social Democrats". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
28. Sherlock, Cillian (4 July 2023). "Cian O'Callaghan appointed deputy leader of Social Democrats". Retrieved 4 July 2023.
29. "Newly-formed Social Democrats pledge to abolish water charges". RTÉ News. 15 July 2015. from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
30. "Ireland's newest political party will abolish water charges and repeal the 8th". TheJournal.ie. 15 July 2015. from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
31. "New Social Democrats group pledge to abolish water charges and repeal the Eighth Amendment". Irish Independent. 15 July 2015. from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
32. "Policies". Social Democrats website. from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
33. "Social Democrats Call for Directly Elected Mayor". us11.campaign-archive.com. 27 June 2016. from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
34. Oireachtas, Houses of the (30 May 2017). "Future of Healthcare Committee publishes Sláintecare – a plan to radically transform Irish healthcare – 30 May 2017, 11.46 – Houses of the Oireachtas". www.oireachtas.ie. from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
35. Our plan for healthcare 3 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Social Democrats (Ireland) official website. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
36. "Making Homes Affordable and Secure". Social Democrats. from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
37. Burns, Sarah. "Social Democrats to 'radically scale up number of new homes". The Irish Times. from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
38. Oireachtais, Tithe an (3 July 2018). "Urban Regeneration and Housing (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] – Dáil Éireann (32nd Dáil) – Dé Máirt, 3 Iúil 2018 – Tithe an Oireachtais". Houses of the Oireachtas (in Irish). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
39. "Conference". Social Democrats. from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
40. "Social Democrats to bring motion of no confidence in Eoghan Murphy". Independent.ie. from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
41. "Social Democrats Call for End to Religious Discrimination in Schools". Social Democrats. 19 November 2016. from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
42. "SocDems' bill to increase unpaid parental leave goes to final stage in Dáil". Social Democrats. 12 June 2018. from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
43. "Social Democrats welcome cross-party support for renters' rights Bill". Social Democrats. 23 January 2018. from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
44. "Soc Dems 'Yes for Repeal' referendum campaign launches in Dublin, Cork & Galway". Social Democrats. 22 April 2018. from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
45. McGee, Harry. "Social Democrats propose a new anti-corruption agency". The Irish Times. from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
46. "Tackling Corruption". Social Democrats. from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
47. "33rd DÁIL GENERAL ELECTION 8 February 2020 Election Results (Party totals begin on page 68)" (PDF). Houses of the Oireachtas. (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
48. Election 2016 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, RTÉ News, 4 March 2016
49. "Cllr Gary Gannon to contest Dublin seat in Euro Elections". Social Democrats. 19 March 2019. from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
50. Kavanagh, Adrian (16 October 2018). "Female candidates contesting the 2019 Local Elections". Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses. from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
51. Bray, Jennifer (26 May 2019). "Social Democrats 'reasonably happy' with the party's performance". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
52. Bray, Jennifer (4 May 2019). "Ellie Kisyombe to run in elections after correcting backstory, party says". The Irish Times. from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
53. "Social Democrats' Mary Callaghan elected Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin". Social Democrats. 19 June 2020. from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
54. "South Dublin County Cllr. Eoin Ó Broin Joins The Social Democrats". Social Democrats. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
55. Meskill, Tommy (5 January 2023). "Galway councillor resigns after allegations". RTÉ. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
56. Galway West @SocDems had the great honour of nominating Alan Curran (@acurno ), co-founder of @cycle_bus to be co-opted to @GalwayCityCo . He has had incredible impact as an activist and we can’t wait to see his impact as a public representative.
57. Blaney, Amy (14 February 2023). "Catherine Stocker becomes first Dublin councillor granted full maternity leave". Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
58. "General Election candidates". Social Democrats. from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.

External links

• Official website