The Social Democrats have announced a reshuffle of spokesperson roles within the parliamentary party, following the long-delayed establishment of Oireachtas committees.
Oireachtas committees are now sitting again, after months of delay due to the debate around speaking time slots in the Dáil.
In a statement today, acting party leader Cian O’Callaghan said the move reflects the new committee assignments and allows the party to better focus on its policy priorities.
“Since the election, when the Social Democrats nearly doubled our number of TDs, our team has gotten straight to work – holding the government to account on a range of important issues,” O’Callaghan said.
“Now, after a prolonged delay from government, Oireachtas committees have finally been set up. As a result of this, there have been a number of changes to the spokespeople roles of some of our parliamentary party.”
Prominently among the changes, Senator Patricia Stephenson will now serve as spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade. Stephenson, who sits on the corresponding Oireachtas committee, previously worked in international development for nearly a decade, including six years in East Africa. She also served as an EU diplomat with the delegation to Uganda and is currently a delegate to the Council of Europe.
The Foreign Affairs role is being taken off Dublin Rathdown TD Sinéad Gibney, who previously served as the head of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Gibney will now assume responsibility for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, alongside her existing brief.
She will sit on the relevant Oireachtas committee and is expected to focus on social media regulation. Notably, Gibney previously worked in the tech sector.
The full list of updated spokesperson roles is as follows:
– Holly Cairns: Party Leader
– Cian O’Callaghan: Deputy Leader; Finance; Public Expenditure; Infrastructure; Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
– Gary Gannon: Justice; Home Affairs and Migration
– Jennifer Whitmore: Climate, Environment, Energy and Transport; Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine
– Rory Hearne: Housing; Local Government and Heritage
– Pádraig Rice: Health
– Sinéad Gibney: Enterprise, Tourism and Employment; Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport; Defence
– Liam Quaide: Social Protection; Rural and Community Development; Gaeltacht; Mental Health; Disability
– Patricia Stephenson: Foreign Affairs and Trade
– Aidan Farrelly: Children and Equality; Youth
– Jen Cummins: Education; Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science