Future of Social Democrats in safe hands - Moore

Cllr Ronan Moore, Meath's only social democrat councillor, paid tribute to Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall who announced that they are stepping down as co-leaders of the party.

Deputy Shortall said the pair had decided the time was right to "hand the leadership reins" to another Social Democrats TD.

Cllr Moore (right), said there were few TDs with the same sense of credibility, fairness and social justice as Deputies Shortall and Murphy.

"It is with great sadness we hear they are stepping down. As a party we are losing two great leaders, but it is also a loss to the country as a whole," he said. "I know that when I joined the party, I joined because of them."

Cllr Moore said both TDs had obviously put a lot of thought into this decision.

"I genuinely feel the party has never been healthier. Polls in both Dublin and outside the capital, show we are in as healthy a state as we have ever been. It is the best time to stand down in many respects, they are leaving a strong party to whoever takes over and whoever that is will have the full support of the party."

He said he didn't know who the next leader would be. "There are arguments for any one of the current TDs. There is a great geographical spread. We are exceptionally fortunate that they are all able to perform on the national stage, whether in terms of policy or media."

Making the announcement last week, Roisin Shortall, confirmed they were both staying involved in politics and plan to stand as candidates in the next general election.

Ms Shortall said: "This is a very big decision for Catherine and myself. But it's also a big decision for the party. It has always been our belief that politics must deal with the present challenges which impact people's lives, but it is also vital that we take a long-term view.

"So now we are taking that advice, advice which we so often give to Government, advice that planning for the future is absolutely essential."

Ms Murphy, a Kildare North TD, co-founded the party with Dublin North-West deputy Ms Shortall in 2015 along with Stephen Donnelly, now Minister for Health and a Fianna Fáil TD. Deputies Murphy and Shortall are both former Labour TDS.

Since then they have steered the party as co-leaders and saw a tripling of their Dáil seats in the last general election to six TDs, and got 2.9 per cent of first preference votes in the 2020 election.

They won a similar number of first preference votes in the local elections and the latest opinion polls put the party at about four per cent.

The Social Democrats are the only major political party to have a female majority in the Dáil.

Deputy Holly Cairns, TD for Cork South-West since the 2020 general election announced on Sunday that she wished to take on the leadership of the party.