The Social Democrats have dismissed suggestions that a mini reshuffle among its front bench spokespeople was done for anything other than practical reasons.
Acting party leader Cian O’Callaghan announced that Dublin Rathdown TD Sinéad Gibney was moving from the foreign affairs brief to media, tourism and arts, with Kilkenny-based senator Patricia Stephenson taking on her former role.
A party spokeswoman said there was no basis to suggestions about divisions in the party, noting that both portfolios were senior and reflected the experience and expertise of the appointee.
There are divided views within the parliamentary party about the status of Eoin Hayes, the Dublin Bay South TD who was suspended by the party over a failure to account fully for the manner in which he disposed of shareholdings in Palantir, a US-based company that has provided military technology to Israel. Some members of the parliamentary party are understood to want to bring his suspension to an end.
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The spokeswoman said the decision to reshuffle spokespeople was taken in order to align them with their Oireachtas committee responsibilities.
Ms Stephenson had not previously been a party spokesperson and there was uncertainty over which committee she would be appointed to. When it became known she had been selected to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, the logical thing was for her to become spokesperson in that area, the party said. The same applied to Ms Gibney, who is a member of the Committee on Media, Tourism and Arts.
Mr O’Callaghan said Ms Stephenson is “a former EU diplomat, having worked for the EU delegation to Uganda in the governance and human rights department” and is also one of the Irish delegates to the Council of Europe.
Ms Gibney, the former chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, is one of the party’s most high-profile TDs. She has experience of the media and communications sector, having spent eight years working at a senior level for a multinational technology company.
Ms Gibney said she had enjoyed working in the “crucial area” of foreign affairs alongside Ms Stephenson but was “excited to get stuck into my new portfolio”. She said she was delighted her colleague had secured a committee position and a chance to “bring her expertise” to the area.
