Saoirse Mackin, the chairperson of the Cork East branch of the Social Democrats, welcomed the news in a statement on Monday: “Poland, one of just six European countries to not yet legalise same-sex marriage, designated a number of towns as ‘LGBT-free’ in early 2019. “In Ireland, we have seen real progress on social issues in recent years including marriage equality, repeal of the eighth amendment, and the Gender Recognition Bill. “Therefore, as a society, we are empowered to take a firm stance against the discrimination and erasure of the LGBT+ community.” Ian O’Ceallaigh, Co-Vice Chair of the branch, added: “Cork East Social Democrats believe that Fermoy’s twinning with Nowa Dęba is clearly untenable and we are glad the Twinning Committee have taken the decision to pursue a termination of the twinning agreement between the two municipalities.”