The high cost of gluten-free foods creates a significant financial burden, hindering coeliacs' ability to access necessary nutrition. By providing financial support, this ensures that coeliacs have equal opportunities to afford these essential dietary items, promoting their overall well-being and health equity.

This rule serves no purpose other than to exclude, reject, and leave a disproportionate number of former residents, along with the representatives of sadly deceased residents, feeling that after so many years they yet again don't matter in the eyes of the state and are rated second class in the country in which they were born. It is not about mere financial compensation. No amount of money can repair the feelings of loss, separation and damage that was deliberately and purposefully inflicted upon innocent mothers and their children by state and church. It goes far beyond monetary considerations. The hurt and emotional damage caused by the introduction of this arbitrary rule is immeasurable. It must be addressed and remedied with urgency.

Books and other media with LGBTQ+ themes are extremely important for young people who may be struggling to understand their own identity, as it gives them role models to look up to and allows them an opportunity to see people like them in the stories they enjoy! Book bans, like the one being pushed by prominent Unionist politicians including MP Carla Lockhart are also incredibly discriminatory and hypocritical [1] - representation of non- heterosexual relationships should no more be banned from Libraries than heterosexual/cis gender relationships. A child will not become gay or be "transed" by reading a book with a gay or trans character included. We must not allow bigoted bad actors to import American culture war nonsense to Northern Ireland. [1] https://www.newsletter.co.uk/education/dup-mp-carla-lockhart-calls-for-the-immediate-re[…]ildrens-books-from-northern-irish-public-libraries-4562485

We don't have enough pools in our area so when a new pool is planned it needs to be a modern and flexible design to accommodate as many groups as possible.

Norma Foley's assistance is crucial because she is responsible for education in Ireland. Here's why her help is important: 1. Promised Improvement: The school has been promised a new building for 17 years. As the current Minister of Education, Ms Foley can fulfill this promise, ensuring that the school finally gets the improvements it desperately needs. 2. Safety and Health: The current conditions pose safety and health hazards to students and staff. Minister Foley can allocate resources to address these issues, ensuring that the school environment is safe and conducive to learning. She can issue the letter the school needs for the new building to start. 3. Financial Support: Ms Foley can provide financial support to address the costly heating bills associated with the poorly insulated buildings. By investing in energy-efficient upgrades, she can help reduce expenses for both the school and the community. 4. Educational Environment: A safe and healthy environment is essential for effective learning. Minister Foley's assistance in upgrading the school facilities will create a better educational environment for students, enabling them to thrive academically and socially. 5. Community Well-being: Improving the school facilities will benefit the entire community. Foley's support will demonstrate a commitment to the well-being of disadvantaged communities and provide them with access to quality education resources. Overall, Norma Foley's help is vital in ensuring that the school receives the necessary support and resources to address its longstanding issues and provide a better future for its pupils and the community.

Having a large mural of US president Joe Biden in Ballina reflects very badly on the people of Ballina, Mayo and Ireland who hold very different views to Joe regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The stated main goals of Ireland's aviation policy are about: 1. Enhancing connectivity for the needs of business, tourism and consumers. 2. Growing aviation enterprise 3. Maximising the contribution of the aviation sector to Ireland’s economic growth and development Goal 3 is incompatible with other areas of government policy, in particular in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. Goal 3 also encourages the aviation sector to behave in ways which are contrary to the well-being of the citizens of Ireland in the future, as well as to other people outside Ireland likely to be impacted by climate change. Given that commercial aviation fuel is tax exempt, this amounts to a subsidy of tens of billions of euros in Europe annually, and this subsidy should be discussed in the formation of Ireland's new aviation policy.

We should be able to walk to the local shops without fear of being hit by a car. The footpath down to the local shops and playground / teen space leads directly to a busy road at a T-junction. There is no zebra crossing on the road, so children and residents are forced to look 3 ways to ensure they can cross safely. A zebra crossing is a quick and cheap solution. It would force cars to slow down and allow children and residents safe passage.

All children can learn. All children have a right to an education and we need to stand up for some of the most vulnerable children in our community who are being denied an education.

It is not natural to put children into uniforms for all of their childhood. Be in no doubt that they sap some of the light and levity out of the child and out of the school. They introduce fear and conflict because they involve enforcement, punishments, reprimands, and alienation. Schools become that bit more hostile to many children. Teachers waste enormous amounts of time enforcing and harassing and haranguing students about the clothes they are wearing and very stupid things like the colour of their shoelaces. They are expensive, restrictive, uncomfortable, oppressive and outdated. They reflect a right-wing conservative need for ultra-conformity to control children. In France it is Le Pen's neo-Nazi's who want to introduce uniforms. They are counter to modern educational philosophy which values plurality, problem-solving, creativity and self-expression. Ireland and Malta are the only two EU countries with this widespread practice, both with a British colonial past and a widespread smothering conservative, Catholic control of schools. It is a myth that uniforms protect children from bullying. In the wider European continent, out of 40 countries, uniforms are the norm in eight, and all eight of those report above average levels of bullying (Statista 2018). Rather than trying to make everyone look the same (impossible anyhow) by enforcing ridiculous dress and appearance rules, better for school to focus on developing children's ability to be resilient, accept themselves and other people for who they are in all their wonderful human diversity.

The Killester Raheny Clontarf school planning area (KRC SPA) has seven secondary schools. All are taxpayer-funded and all are controlled by religious institutions. Five of the schools are single-sex. Of the remaining two schools, one prioritises children from Protestant backgrounds and the other is a small Catholic school. We have raised this issue repeatedly with the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, through representations in the Dáil. Through questions to her Department we have learned that there is a serious lack of secondary school places in the KRC SPA. The statistics we received from the Department of Education show, for example, that year after year between 60% and 70% of boys who finish sixth class in the KRC SPA leave the area for secondary school. This is unsurprising as only one of the single-sex schools mentioned above caters for boys. The schools in our area are already oversubscribed and the statistics show we need a new one. We need a school that offers parents a choice. Please sign the petition and let’s make sure it’s a non-religious school that boys and girls can attend together.

Although Israel has tried to suppress and discredit information leaving Gaza, including by murdering over 100 journalists, thanks to the courage and determination of those men and women we can see the scale of brutality and destruction being wrought in Gaza through social media. It is the duty of RTÉ as Ireland's national broadcaster to tell the truth about what is happening in Gaza. By suppressing information, by playing into Israeli narratives and ignoring credible reports of war crimes, RTÉ becomes complicit in the crimes being committed against the Palestinian people. The Irish people have a right to know about those crimes, not least because they are being funded and supported by countries with which we enjoy the closest of cultural and economic relations.