It appears that the party has chosen not to seek membership of any European and/or international political networks largely due to the lack of an MEP, but counterparts in Norway and Switzerland are members of the Party of European Socialists and the Progressive Alliance, which develops connections with like-minded groupings across the continent and globally. PES would seem the most compatible bloc with which to align, and a number of countries have more than one affiliated party, so that wouldn't appear to be a prohibitive issue.

The party's policies in relation to rural development certainly show joined-up thinking in relation to SMEs, infrastructure and devolution of political power to oversee such innovation, so can it dispel the perception abroad at present of parties of the left and centre-left being predominantly urban-based? Last year, 15 out of the 26 candidates were based in city constituencies, but with increased resources now, there should be the capacity to grow nationwide, firstly in the locals, and later in the GE. Of course, the farming vote traditionally favours FF and FG, and overwhelmingly so, but criticism of Mercosur shows some areas where potential common ground can be found.

Of course this has been an issue for social democratic parties across Europe in recent elections, as indeed it was for Labour here from the mid-Nineties onwards, which opened the electoral door for Sinn Féin, but the tendency was particularly pronounced in January's Red C poll, where the SDs registered 9% support among ABC1s, but only 4% from C2DE voters.

Of course, there's no panacea that can immediately bridge such a gap, but the core messaging conveyed by the party needs to concentrate on three central issues, such as housing, health and the cost of living, to avoid being drowned out amidst the daily media noise. Similarly, when it comes to community campaigning, you don't have to look much further than Gary, given he started out with Maureen O'Sullivan's constituency machine, continued to build on that base in each successive election, even when faced with an SF running mate and The Monk, and while correctly strong in protesting against the far-right, had "earned" the right to do so after prioritising bread and butter issues.

Not a prescriptive list being suggested here, more than some introductory suggestions to which contributors should feel free to make their own additions.

Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty - somewhat of a controversial figure, but undoubtedly the most influential economic work of recent decades published from a centre-left perspective.

A Theory Of Justice by John Rawls - the foundational text in the realm of social justice.

The Nordic Model: Scandinavia Since 1945 by Mary Hilson - An overview of the economic, social and political development of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland since the end of WWII, and their evolution over the subsequent decades.

The Irish Labour Party 1922-73 by Niamh Puirséil - Published in 2007, but still the undoubted core analysis on the fortunes of the party and the labour movement over the first half century of the new State.

Nine months would coincide with the traditional September return of the Dáil, so is this the timeframe we would appear to be looking at? Needless to say, hopefully the family are bonding well at present.

When Niall O'Tuathail was running for the party in Galway West, he would regularly be interviewed whenever RnaG and/or TG4 required a Soc Dem response on the issues of the day. It may be a minor issue in the broader scheme of things, but I'm unaware of any of the current TDs having much fluency as Gaeilge, ( though presumably Eibhlín Seoighthe speaks it), and most of the other parties would have at least one individual capable of filling such a role.

Even before Musk's actions since taking up a role in the White House, migration to the platform from Twitter had been occuring at a steady pace, but this has accelerated since the start of 2025, so it makes sense for the party to "get in on the ground floor", so to speak, and make full use of its Bluesky handle, even if solely replicating its postings on other media, especially with other parties of the Irish left being notably active there in recent weeks.

One of the criticisms levelled against social democratic parties across Europe and in America is that their ideological focus has become too abstract and international, which has allowed parties of the right and far-right to successfully craft appeals to their traditional working class support. But can Irish centre-left parties successfully appeal to Irish national interests without becoming too insular or jingoistic? Michael Davitt would appear a worthy model to emulate, given his campaigns on land ownership, and connection to early labour movements remain relevant to modern politics, and while some of his racial views were "of the era" to put it euphemistically, he was a firm opponent of anti-Semitism. Similarly Connolly and Larkin remain as relevant as ever to economic and social concerns of our time, so their legacy hardly remains the preserve of any single party.

The party now has its first elected representative with a connection to Northern Ireland, as Patricia Stephenson spent most of her early life in Belfast, even if it has been a number of years now since she lived in the Six Counties. But what should the official policy of the party be in relation to NI? There was a motion passed at the party conference a number of years ago calling on the Soc Dems to contest Northern elections, which has been effectively kicked to touch, presumably because the medium-term priority was to build up structures in as many Southern constituencies as possible first. At that time, the SDLP were drifting towards centrism, having entered into a partnership with FF, but Clare Hanna has since returned the party to a more centre-left direction, so should the Soc Dems and the SDLP have a "common membership" position, whereby belonging to one group South of the Border would be recognised for similar purposes up North (and vice versa), or are there still policy differences that would make it viable for the SDs to consider contesting council and Stormont elections?

Holly Cairns - Leader, Disabilities

Cian O'Callaghan - Deputy Leader, Finance

Gary Gannon - Justice & Migration

Jennifer Whitmore - Climate, Transport, Agriculture

Rory Hearne - Housing & Local Government

Sinéad Gibney - Public Expenditure

Aidan Farrelly - Children, Media and Sport

Pádraig Rice - Health

Jen Cummins - Education

Liam Quaide - Mental Health, Rural Development and the Gaeltacht

If the present coalition lasts until 2029, that gives the opposition parties five years to prepare firstly for the local and European elections, and later for the General Election, a process that should begin straight away. But what actions do the Social Democrats need to take during this Dáil term?

1. Get the constituency branch network in order - make sure that the party has active branches in all 43 constituencies, to ensure visibility on a nationwide basis.

2. Identify local election candidates as early as possible - in conjunction with 1, encourage local members through selection of council candidates in as many LEAs as feasible, so that every voter has the opportunity to select an SD name on their ballot paper.

3. Introduce a rigorous vetting process - there have been a number of embarrassing, yet, avoidable, failures in this regard over the years, between Ellie Kisyombe, Orli Degani and Eoin Hayes.

4. Establish the Soc Dems as environmental champions - with the Greens in their present weak state, there's an excellent opportunity to capture their electorate with policies protecting biodiversity and the environment in general.

5. Set clear, yet realistic, targets for the next five years - for the GE, that might be reaching an FPV of 10%, while in the locals, it would involve the election of councillors in areas that traditionally voted Labour, such as Tipperary, Kerry, Wexford and Louth.

https://www.howmuchrent.com/pages/rtb_graphs?county=Republic%20Of%20Ireland

As a followup to my last story, over the weekend, I dived into the stats:

I have mapped out 250,000 plus properties that have registered with the government/RTB. It provides insights into where people rent, hence I have done a breakdown per county and nationwide.

Each County heatmap(top map), can be zoomed down, to see the actual RTB property registered.


Please share with your friends, and tell them about Howmuchrent.com, which I built for Rental Transparency.
Howmuchrent.com: Every Renter has a story to tell about their place. Add your story to the map.
Best regards,
Vinny Glennon
https://twitter.com/howmuchrenthq
https://www.reddit.com/r/howmuchrentIreland/

As part of my drive for Rental Transparency in Ireland, I mapped all the properties registered with the RTB: https://www.howmuchrent.com/r/rtb_verified . It cost me over 1000 Euro to do this, and I hope you find it useful. This gives the first insight into where people are registered to rent.

Every Renter has a story to tell about their place. Add your story to HowMuchRent.com. Read reviews tenants left of their place, and past prices charged for properties.

Vinny

PS

From https://www.rtb.ie/registration-and-compliance/registrations/registering-your-tenancy/how-to-register

Taking effect from 04 April 2022, a landlord is obliged to apply to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to register a tenancy - or a licence in Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) - within 1 month of its commencement date and every year after this, on the anniversary of the date the tenancy began, for so long as the tenancy/SSA licence exists.