An Tánaiste comments about homeschooling can be read here: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41096002.html The socialising and isolating issue is brought up very often by those who do not know the rich and varied experiences home-educating and unschooling families have and share with each other. Despite the right of parents to be the primary educator of their children, protected by the Constitution, the Tánaiste’s comments reveal that he considers there is something misaligned in parents who chose home-education over sending their children to state schools, or something misaligned with their children as a result. It is a classic misperception by those who know little about home-education that children do not learn to socialise when educated at home, and that home-educating families are isolated or somehow removed from society at large, in an ignorant bubble, as the minister himself projected. Sometimes you find the truth when you turn 180 degrees. In all fairness, it's an understandable knee jerk reaction to think that without classroom activities, children don't socialise. The reality is radically different and backed up by studies. Homeschooled children do not only have ample time for visits with their school going friends, there are many wonderful home-ed communities to connect with any time of the week. You see, as a general rule, home-educating families love meeting with home-educating families. There's people across the length and breadth of this country meeting up, organising museum visits, art projects, play sessions, camping trips, shared educational opportunities etc etc. Furthermore home-educated and unschooled children meet with a variety of people throughout the day, the post man, the busker in the street, the person giving the guided tour just to them, their grandparents, etc. etc. Within home-education children's interactions are not restricted mostly to their own age groups and therfore there is an increase in having friendships with much younger or older children and adults too. It was deeply offensive to hear the comments from our Tánaiste who is meant to protect every child and person in the county. The comments crudely undermined our sincere efforts, and were regarding a case which anchored on religious beliefs and did not in any way represent the home-educating communities of Ireland. We ask Minister Martin to please make a retraction and restore the faith of this minority group by expressing respect for personal decisions regarding our families, as is our right. Home-educating and unschooling families and their children are very much part of modern Irish society, and their local communities. We are a Constitutionally protected minority, and in other countries this legality is deemed progressive and supportive of democratic choice. Photo by Sasko Lazarov

Landsdowne Valley park is used by mostly dog walkers and joggers at the moment. It has a disused pitch & putt section - that is home to many birds. The lock down showed how important local green spaces are. The climate crisis is showing the importance of biodiversity, restoring rivers, bird habitats etc Landsdowne Valley Park has a lot of untapped potential and this petition asks Dublin City Council to come up with a plan for Landsdowne Valley Park, using community consultation & feedback from local. Locals are concerned about the River Camac which flows through Landsdowne Valley Park and Inchicore. Dublin City Council needs to write a concrete action plan for Landsdowne Valley Park, with actions around river restoration, biodiversity, control of invasive species, disabled access to the park, family friendly design, tourism potential and any other feedback from the surrounding community.

Cyclists are being hit by cars at this junction. Cars are jumping the red light. Hundreds of children and cyclists walk and cycle to work & school every day here. They are not safe. Dublin City Council traffic engineers must urgently review this junction and upgrade pedestrian & cyclist safety with 2 new pedestrian crossings & cycle lanes.

The pressure of home work can effect children's mental health and well being and that of their parents. If you agree please join me in this petition.

Children in Mother and Baby home were used for vaccine trial experiments without their parents’ or guardians’ consent, or even without their knowledge. GSK experimented with at least 13 vaccines and 2 milk formula trials, denying any harm. However, reports like Murphy's - Trial G states that “a significant number of adverse reactions were reported among children involved”, they also got “infantile spasms” after vaccinations. GSK needs to take the responsibility for all harm done to children and their parents from Baby and Mother Homes. GSK used the most vulnerable children. They targeted defenseless mothers. GSK recruited children with Down syndrome, deformity, heart diseases. They described one of the mothers as “mentally handicapped”. All that is seen as an excuse. All of those children were used without the consent. GSK is a pharmaceutical giant with worldwide sales of £29.3 billion (€33 billion) in 2022. They need to pay for the justice. If we put GSK CEO in the spotlight and boycott their products, we can show Emma Walmsley that we won't support a pharmaceutical behemoth that is refusing to pay what they are own to Mother and Baby Homes. [1] https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/02/27/gsk-repeatedly-rejected-ministers-efforts-to-get-it-to-pay-reparations-over-vaccine-trials/

Ever since Judge Yvonne Murphy published the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother & Baby Homes in January 2021, GSK has been refusing to contribute to the State’s €800 million redress scheme for survivors, despite two of its companies having commissioned unlicensed vaccine trials on child residents that contravened the ethical and regulatory standards of the time. The trials for Glaxo Laboratories and Wellcome, which were subsequently acquired by the corporation now known as GSK, were conducted on some of Ireland’s most vulnerable little children without their parents’ or guardians’ consent, or even their knowledge. GSK Plc is a pharmaceutical behemoth that rang up worldwide sales of £29.3 billion (€33 billion) in 2022.

Dear community members and local politicians, We are facing a critical issue that demands our attention and action. A casino is being proposed in our neighborhood, and its impact will not only be felt by us but also by our children who attend schools in close proximity to the proposed site, Sweeney’s chipper. Gambling has been shown to have devastating consequences for the mental health and well-being of young people. Yet, despite these warnings, the incidence of gambling among teenagers and young men has skyrocketed in recent years. We cannot afford to let our youth be exposed to this dangerous vice and be at risk of developing problem gambling. It is time for us to come together and make our voices heard. We must appeal to our local politicians to stop this casino and to protect our children and community from its harmful effects. Let us show that we care about the future of our youth and that we will not stand by while they are put in harm's way. Join me in speaking out against this proposed casino and take a stand for the health and well-being of our children and community. Together, we can make a difference. Sincerely, A concerned community member

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where an opt-out system is not yet in place. It's wrong that people and children's lives are at risk because of the DUP boycott at Stormont. The Secretary of State must use his powers to put this law in place now.

For the safety and benefits of ALL residents : kids, working families, pensioners. In order to reduce car emissions and meet Ireland' green targets, we need to reduce our car use. But if its not safe to walk your kids from home to school, If you risk your live cycling from Mornington to Laytown station, to avoid using your car, that is not right.

Homework for younger children can cause unnecessary stress just before bedtime and eat into what little leisure time families have during during the week. In a typical household with working parents, by the time children are collected from childcare, have eaten dinner and completed their homework, its already time to being bedtime routines. Instead, parents could spend valuable time playing with their children or engaging in physical activities with them that would allow them to sleep better and have a more positive and fun time with their parents. Take Finland as an example. Finland regularly tops international polls for their high educational standards and Finnish schools do not have homework. For the wellbeing of families and educational outcomes - homework in primary school children should be banned now. Homework can be very important for developing independent learning skills in older children but research shows that it has little impact on the learning development of younger children and can actually increase the gap in attainment for disadvantaged students. https://theconversation.com/primary-school-children-get-little-academic-benefit-from-homework-181652 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1501844

There is nothing more important to us as a nation than to care for, nurture, protect and preserve the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren. A very close second is the need to protect and preserve our natural environment for those generations that follow us, who will depend upon it. A recent submission to the Citizens Assembly examining Bio-Diversity Loss in Ireland confirmed that our natural freshwaters are being deliberately, unlawfully polluted by 5000 defective (leaking) slurry/effluent storage tanks that were built on NI farms, thousands of which were built in the border counties of Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh. https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/assembly-on-biodiversity-loss/submissions/bio507_redacted.pdf The toxic contents leaking from those defective tanks pollute/poison local streams rivers and lakes that flow across the 310mile border and pollute/poison the freshwaters in the border counties of Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and the counties beyond them, killing the marine life and flora and fauna that exist in those freshwaters and causing/contributing to the pollution recorded by the EPA in their reports. RTE reported the EPA Studies that confirm the levels of pollution in our natural freshwaters. https://www.rte.ie/news/environment/2022/1014/1329164-epa-water-quality/ https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/1020/1330259-epa-sewage-report/ Those streams, rivers and lakes are the source of the water that we all use/drink every day. Think of this when you pour your next cup of tea/coffee or hand your child a glass of tap-water to drink. *Update: On 26-01-23 the European Commission referred Ireland to the European Court over its failures to protect its freshwaters from pollution and maintain acceptable standards of drinking water.* Please sign this petition and forward it to your elected representative and please also share it with your friends and family and ask them to do the same.

Castlemartyr National School is based on the busy N25 Cork to Waterford road, less than 200 metres from a busy junction as well as having an adjacent road servicing an estate. The school has been supported by a traffic warden for over 30 years but since November, the school has had to do without a warden due to the safety concerns expressed by a number of wardens who have held the position. Although this position is actively being recruited for, it still leaves the issue of safety around the area of paramount concern. Traffic surveys carried out at the areas have shown that a large percentage of passing traffic will regularly break the speed limit which is set at 50km/h. Footpaths opposite the school are extremely narrow and passing traffic is less than one metre away from anyone using those footpaths. This can mean that large trucks and other vehicles can be traveling at 50Km/h less than one meter away from children or families with buggies walking to and from school. The School has 245 students with over 170 families as part of its community with many having to travel to the school, particularly families from Mogeely. Children cycling or using a Scooter to get to school have no option but to use the road or narrow footpath. Parking in the locality is extremely limited due to the size of the car park in the school. Many people have to find parking locally and then walk to the school. The entrance to the car park at the school is less than 5 metres from the entrance to Kiltha park which means that there are three lanes of traffic that need to be navigated when crossing the road close to the school. This also causes concern for local residents as driveways may be used for turning or parking when dropping or picking up children. The N25 sees upwards of 15,000 vehicles pass through Castlemartyr each day. With such a large volume of traffic passing through a populated village it is vital that the safety of pedestrian and motorists alike is addressed with the highest urgency. https://trafficdata.tii.ie/sitedashboard.asp?sgid=XZOA8M4LR27P0HAO3_SRSB&spid=5229D2644906 The list can go on but we need action and we need your support, we want Castlemartyr to be a safe place for children going to and from school. Some form of traffic calming has to take place. Please sign and share this petition to show your support and help us ensure our children can walk safely to school.