A recent Ernrst and Young (EY) report for The Arts Council stated that at the end of August 2020, 58% of workers in the sector were wholly reliant on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). The EY report also stated that in 2020 the recession in the Arts sector was expected be around -55% compared with -11% in the Irish economy on a whole. In the live performance and events sector there are 35,000 full time employees. Of 343 firms surveyed in June 2020 by Event Industry Ireland, 57% of companies have laid-off staff on a temporary basis and a further 8% have let staff go permanently. The Programme for Government – Our Shared Future contained a commitment for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), in the lifetime of the Government. This commitment was consolidated by recommendations from the Arts Recovery Task Force which stated “Pilot a universal basic income scheme for a three-year period in the arts, culture, audio-visual and live performance and events sectors”. Point 11 commits to the introduction of a Universal Basic Income pilot in the lifetime of the Government. Universal Basic Income is defined as an unconditional State payment that each citizen receives. The payment is designed to provide enough to cover the basic cost of living and provide a modicum of financial security. All other income would then be earned separately and subject to taxation. The scheme should be ‘opt in’ and other workers from these sectors who do not opt in can be used as a control group against which to measure the pilot. I am seeking your support in the delivery of these commitments by Government as a matter of urgency. I would be grateful if you would confirm your support and if you would advise of the steps you have taken to assist in the delivery of the promised pilot scheme for a UBI.

This is so important to reward all the underage players for their hard work and dedication, to inspire the next generation and to engage young ladies footballers

A community centre is vital to support delivery of services for the community especially older and younger members of the community. Most importantly it will provide a hub for community activity and connection!

This is a growing Community Market which offers so much more than locally made goods and produce, it offers a meeting place for people in a safe outdoor setting. It is a great addition to the town of Tramore and is well supported by residents. The Council need to be realistic in the number of stalls needed here AND listen to the voices of the community,both market stall owners and those in the town who support the market.

The Pipers, and particularly their historic caravan, have been valued and iconic members of Kinsale's community for generations. They are now being assaulted by a small faction developers, and a town council which appears to have little concern for protecting Kinsale's rich history, culture, and community. We are calling on the Kinsale Town Council to immediately return Pipers beautiful caravan to its historic location, and to cease all eviction attempts in the future.

What if we made Greystones & Delgany greener, healthier and wilder? What if we were the first region in Ireland to create biosecurity by 2026? We can all be part of a legacy we can be proud of: handing over to our children and future generations an area that is climate-resilient and supports our wildlife to live alongside us. Please support this petition and we will bring it to the Government and Wicklow County Council to transform Greystones & Delgany (and North Wicklow). Greystones & Delgany are currently undergoing a frenzy of development, with new housing estates approved and planted in every available field left. Not only is the infrastructure (roads, public transport links, schools, healthcare, etc.) not keeping up, but nature is taking a huge hit. So what if the answer to overdevelopment was to create a Community Nature Reserve – a gift to current and future generations? Following 2 years of research by Eoin Llewellyn here are key realistic projects that can be implemented to rehabilitate nature. • Expand the Glen of the Downs on both sides of the Three-Trout stream with permanent native forest. • Return Kindlestown Forest to permanent native woodland (under the Government's new Project Woodland and/or Coillte's Millenium Forests programme) as each Sitka spruce plot is harvested, and link it to the Glen of the Downs SAC (Special Area of Conservation). • Relist and protect the Bronze Age hillforts of Coolagad (Kindlestown) and Downshill, ahead of the millennial anniversary of the Battle of Delgany 1022. (see Yasmin Fortune's research on www.glenodownsheritage.com) • Create 20-meter wide riparian ways and a nature reserve along the full course of the Three-Trout Stream, with green link path for people to walk and/or cycle to school and work. (see Eoin Llewellyn's research https://www.mywildireland.ie/projects/ • Add chestnut fencing and a raised boardwalk on South Beach to protect coastal flora and dune grasses from collapse, plus nature signage indicating plants and insects present. • Create a coastal nature reserve on 2 fields east of the railway line above the North Beach, thus extending Bray Head SAC (Special Area of Conservation) into Greystones. If this Nature Reserve was to see the light of day, Greystones & Delgany would become the first biosecure area in Ireland by 2026! At a time when successive lockdowns have highlighted the dire need for green spaces near urban centers, Greystones & Delgany could become a flagship example of a town living in harmony with nature, and a template to be replicated across the county and country. As the next County Development Plan is being drafted, let's change the story of Greystones & Delgany - from a town besieged by suburban sprawl, to a place where a greener, healthier and wilder future is possible. See - https://www.mywildireland.ie/projects/

Tá an Ghaeilge taréis a bheith an-feiceálach ar RTÉ le linn Seachtain na Gaeilge. Bheadh sé iontach dá gcloisfeadh agus dá bhfeicfeadh muintir na hÉireann an Ghaeilge go laethúil mar chuid lárnach de chláracha de gach saghas ar stáisiúin raidio agus teilifíse RTÉ. The Irish language has been freely used by presenters on our main national broadcaster during Seachtain na Gaeilge. It would be uplifting and in-keeping with our rights as citizens if our national radio and TV channels featured our national language used freely and naturally to indicate a truly bilingual broadcasting environment.

This campaign is being orchestrated by the the 1916 Societies, who are an Irish separatist movement who believe the people of Ireland have the right to determine their own future. For more information on our campaign visit our website: 1916Societies.ie

Matt Williams, the rugby correspondent is ill fit for his position as a rugby pundit. Matt Williams is contracted by Virgin media where he commentates alongside fellow panelists on International rugby. It is notable that Williams is always the weakest of the panelists. His inability to dissect the game analytically is quite evident. However, this is not the worst aspect of Williams punditry. Williams seemingly constant negativity he holds of the Irish rugby team is borderline Insulting. His almost incessant rants about the Irish rugby team are both repetitive and wearing. He dwells on what they could and should have done all of the time, rather than perhaps pointing out the good play that got them into the position to make a given mistake in the first place. His criticism is evidently strong. Strong criticism has to be merited though. And by that, I mean the Individual who is heavily criticising has to have had been in the position of those who he/she is criticising.Thus, Williams criticism is not merited, as he himself has not played rugby at International level. Whilst, I will acknowledge that Williams has had a playing career himself, it was not at International level and as a result, he is unable to relate to or is distant from the pressures that any International player faces when they put on their Country's Jersey. I will also acknowledge that Williams also has experience as a coach which some reputable sides, most notably being Leinster, Ulster and Scotland. However, this experience as a rugby coach along side his career at club rugby level is still not enough for any Individual to express views of almost complete toxicity towards any International side. I really hope that Virgin Media or whomever is broadcasting Six Nations rugby in the future reads what I've written! , and takes into account, the few, of many reasons why Williams is not a suitable candidate, to hold position as a rugby correspondent for Six Nations rugby matches going forward. Thank you for reading this. If you agree, with the points I've laid out in this campaign, then I hope you sign this petition! to give this piece a further voice, and a validity that can't be achieved if its the viewpoint of solely one person.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, across the globe, children and young people have made huge sacrifices with their education. Article 28 of UN convention on the rights of the child states in relation to Education, the child has the right to education; the State has a duty to make primary education compulsory and free to all; to take measures to develop different forms of secondary education and to make this accessible to all children. School discipline should be administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity. School closures in 2020 from mid March to end of June and now from January until April, May or perhaps longer could mean Irish children and young people missing between 8 and possibly 9 months of their education. That is 1 years academic term that all children and young people have sacrificed during this pandemic. They have missed out on important rights of passage, transitions to primary, secondary and third level. Early childhood education states the years 0 to 6 in education are the building blocks of education and these early experiences form a crucial foundation of their education life into the future We are all aware of the emergency of Covid-19 but now we want to talk about recovery afterwards, recovery of full education experience for our children and young people. We want a fund to be accessible to all children and young people to support the education experiences they have lost. Its not just education rights but recreational rights that children have sacrificed. Article 31 of UN rights of child states in relation to leisure, recreation and cultural activities that the child has the right to rest and to engage in leisure, play and recreational activities and to participate in cultural and artistic activities. These too they have sacrificed. We are calling on the Justice minister and the Education minister to do what is a fundamental right of children and young people in Ireland and immediately give back the full education experience that has been taken from them.

Courts in Ecuador found that Chevron-Texaco had deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of cancer-causing toxic oil waste into the rainforest, causing a cancer epidemic that has killed thousands and has decimated five indigenous nations who are teetering on the brink of extinction. They inflicted death and devastation on communities of people and wildlife that no fair-minded Irish person would ever tolerate. “The oil companies came to these pristine forests, backed by our own government. They took what they wanted and wiped-out cultures, completely disregarded the Indigenous people, killed animals and ruined sacred places. In the end, the people couldn’t do anything about it because they couldn’t speak the language of the people destroying their lives! The same destruction is still going on to this day.” Nina Gualinga, Indigenous campaigner for Ecuador Amazon Watch. Nina Gualinga, an indigenous environmental and human rights warrior from Ecuador. https://amazonwatch.org/news/2016/0715-toxic-tour Then, they fled Ecuador after a court had ordered them to pay $US9.5 billion in compensation to local communities. Ever since, they have threatened the communities they violated with a ‘lifetime of litigation’ unless they dropped the case. They have attacked their victims with retaliatory lawsuits. In the face of their inexcusable and catastrophic impact on the planet, fossil fuel companies like Chevron-Texaco are desperate for a ‘social-licence’ to operate. In parallel with their human-rights abuses in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Texaco were cynically running a ‘Children’s Art Competition’ here in Ireland while at the same time they were destroying children’s lives in the Amazon. The legacy of that destruction continues to this day. There can be no place for fossil fuel companies like Texaco in Children’s Art or Sports in Ireland. Join the growing number of major arts institutions and museums around the world who have severed their ties with major oil companies like Texaco.

With the excellent Waterford Greenway on our doorstep, we feel that we need to see an unrivaled offering on this Greenway. The addition of such an environmentally friendly segment, capable of emitting fluorescent light for 10 hours in the dark after absorbing sunlight all day long would be the first of its type in Ireland and would be sheer pleasure to walk or cycle over. (Imagine the Fáilte Ireland drone shots or how good this would be for the ‘darkness in to light’ walk.) Poland has one! Now let’s bring one to Ireland’s sunny south East. Please sign this petition and help make this a reality. https://www.sustainability-times.com/clean-cities/a-sun-powered-bicycle-path-glows-in-the-dark-in-poland/ WATCH: https://youtu.be/jmSs7ZBnUso