Church and state should be separate, and given the appalling history that Ireland has when it comes to Church control of State affairs and institutions this should be evident. This not only happens in Waterford County and County County but in the majority of Local Authorities around Ireland.

Your plan to beat Covid19 depends on the public taking antigen tests but they are expensive for many people.

During the first Covid 19 outbreak in 2020, 23 residents in Dealgan House Nursing Home died tragically and under harrowing circumstances as a result of contracting COVID-19. This represents one of the highest incidence rates of COVID in nursing homes in Ireland at that time. The RCSI hospital group took over operational control of Dealgan House during this period. Dealgan House is the only nursing home in Ireland where this happened. We have, over the last 18 months, worked tirelessly as a collective of families to find out the circumstances surrounding the deaths of our loved ones. Our objective is to ensure safeguards, regulations and other measures are put in place to prevent the devastating events that unfolded in Dealgan House taking place again. We met with Minister Stephen Donnelly on 28th October 2020 and we put our questions to him and highlighted the importance of such an inquiry. We asked Minister Donnelly when he would respond to our call for a public inquiry into the deaths at Dealgan House. He said his response would be issued 'in weeks, not months.' Over one year later we have had no reply and no substantive reply to continued emails to the minister's office. For all of those who care about the safeguarding of the most vulnerable members of our society can we ask you to sign our petition asking for Minister Donnelly to set up an independent public inquiry into the deaths at Dealgan House. We need a mechanism where people are compelled to tell the truth about what occurred, to clarify inconsistencies and to provide learnings for the State in relation to how we care for older people in residential settings. Thank you.

The Limerick Greenway, which opened in July and cost €10M euros, is now the most successful greenway in Ireland with over 250K visitors already. The greenway traverses a green plain under Rooskagh Hill. This region has huge potential for tourism and could create a multiple of the estimated 200 jobs created in Mayo on the back of their fabulous greenway. It is similar in size to Limerick and visitor numbers are comparable. A dual carriageway through the plain and the greenway will stunt any further growth in amenities and jobs. We believe Limerick County Council; Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport have chosen it not because it is the best route to alleviate traffic congestion in and around Newcastle West but purely because they think that it is achievable in the time frame that they must spend the funds promised and also allows them to circumvent future restrictions from the EU in relation to climate control. We want to raise awareness of this flawed decision and try and reverse it before it is too late. The process to date has evolved side by side with the Covid pandemic and the authorities have been able to move swiftly without entertaining any real democratic questioning. Zoom calls with pre-prepared scripts has been the order of the day. The whole planning, implementation and engagement of this process has been rushed and expedited. Most local politicians appear to be repeating the same mantra as the council and there is a clear democratic deficit here. It is left up to ordinary citizens to voice their concern through the media and other channels such as this petition. https://www.facebook.com/protectlimerickgreenway [email protected]

A spokesperson for the IWOC, a union directly linked to the radical Industrial Workers of the World, called upon the NIPS to end the book ban "immediately". In a statement issued they said "Incarcerated Workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic have been hit hard with restrictions of movement seeing prisoners locked up for 23 hours a day. Reading materials are vital for prisoners, it's a lifeline for everyone to be able to immerse themselves in books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers. To have that restricted, withheld or banned is a denial of prisoners basic human rights and we call upon those within the Northern Ireland Prison Service to lift the ban immediately as it runs counter to Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Prisoners have even been refused books, reading materials and even accessing music interests if it wasn't bought from a reputable outlet such as from multinational corporations as Amazon. This in turn prevents those incarcerated from accessing material of their choice such as small independent publishers and distributors who actually have a wider range of reading materials which are fundamental to freedom of choice. Effectively this is a ban on books to prisoners by another name. At present there is currently only regulated access to book distributors which NIPS approve of such as Amazon. This in turn dramatically limits financially what a prisoner can access. There is also a ban on books and publications which family and friends send in from the outside. No matter what way they dress it up, this is fundamentally a ban on books by another name. The Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee demand that the Northern Ireland Prison Service immediately end their policy of banning books and reading materials across the prison system. This must not be allowed to continue. We call upon those interested in human rights and social justice, to writer's, independent publishers, artists and musicians to help add their voice by supporting prisoners human rights by also demanding that this be stopped immediately.

Operation Transformation is a weight loss TV show in Ireland that has been on our screens every year since 2008. Every year, 5 volunteers are recruited and endure a strict weight loss plan including a restrictive diet and intense exercise programme for 8 weeks.  The goal of the show is to lose weight, yet there is no research to prove that the weight loss intervention advocated by OT is effective in the long-term. There has been no participant follow up study to date. Furthermore, Operation Transformation perpetuates weight stigma in Ireland and contributes to the ongoing discrimination of people in bigger bodies across our country. The Irish public deserve to know if the OT programme will result in long-term weight loss and improved health markers. The research clearly concludes that dieting does not result in long-term weight loss for the vast majority of people. The Irish public deserve to not feel stigmatized or shamed on the basis of our weight. The health of our nation is at great risk with this advice of restrictive dieting. Weight is not a behaviour. This programme sends the inaccurate message that weight determines our health. @intuitive.eating.ireland & @binge.eating.dietitian are initiating this petition.

To promote inclusion and access to local beaches. I travel to many beaches with my family and friends and am usually restricted to the car park. Check out our campaign website for more information.

Rents are increasing every quarter across the country in urban and rural settings at an unsustainable rate. Rents are increasing more than the cap limits in rent pressure zones where they are in effect. Many places fall outside the designated rent pressure zones are increasing at even higher rates and are not covered by any rent cap linked to inflation, the previous 3% rate or the new suggested 2%. E.g. Waterford rents went up 15.9% since this time last year. These 'rent caps' are still rent increases and we cannot afford increases. Landlords are taking advance of the housing crisis by hiking up prices because of demand. Renters are being put under more pressure to pay higher rents more despite their wages not increasing in line with it. We cannot handle any more increases, we need a rent freeze now. Daft 2021 Q3 report: https://ww1.daft.ie/report/ronan-lyons-2021q3-daftrentalprice/infographic?d_rd=1 Uplift's People's Housing Plan: https://www.uplift.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/14930_Uplift_housing_report_WEB-1.pdf Photo credit: RTE, Raise the Roof protest 2018

Already quarrying has destroyed 150 meters of the Iron Age linear earthwork known as the Black Pigs Race or Dyke. There is also a prehistoric enclosure and pre-famine potato ridges on the Mountain.

Pigs are sensitive, intelligent animals, legally recognised as sentient which means they can experience pleasure and pain, sorrow and happiness just like we can. However, 99% of pigs in Ireland are subjected to a life of misery in barren, slatted, overcrowded pens where they have no stimulation and cannot carry out any natural behaviours. Piglets are routinely mutilated at just a few days old by having their tails docked and teeth clipped which is in breach of the Pig Directive. Sows spend around five months of the year, nearly half their lives, in a cage too narrow to turn around in, unable to tend to or escape from their piglets. Pigs would naturally have their toilet area away from where they eat and sleep but when trapped in a cage or overcrowded pen that is not possible. Pigs are hardwired to root and forage and this innate behaviour is denied them causing stress and frusration. Overcrowded pens lead to competition for space and food and aggression follows, hence the docking of tails. If pigs were provided with a proper environment that suits their species the problems with fighting and piglet crushing would be greatly reduced. We are continuously being fed misinformation on pig farming with images of pigs on nice straw beds or in lush green fields, so the public are largely unaware of the grim reality which is the pigs on Irish farms never see a straw bed or grren field. They never get to run around or feel the sun on their backs. They never get to root and forage. They never get to nest build. They never get to be pigs. Pig Aware Ireland is a new campaign set up by Ethical Farming Ireland and My Lovely Pig Rescue to raise awareness of the suffering of almost all pigs in Ireland and push the Minister into actually enforcing legislation and enacting the Animal Welfare Strategy.

Because Dublin needs a proper bookshop, one with a huge range of titles and a massive secondhand section to spend hours browsing in!

Campaign to Nationalize Facebook & All Social Media Platforms Worldwide To make them Non Profit Organizations Administered by The people for the people. Facebook had misled investors and the public about potential harms associated with the platform. Facebook is wrongly prioritizing platform growth over safety. Facebook groups have proven to be hubs for misinformation and harmful content, where there often [are] no gatekeepers and false information is allowed to flourish. Facebook's closed design hides information from researchers and regulators. As long as Facebook is operating in the shadows, hiding its research from public scrutiny, it is unaccountable.