Since 2001 the ESB has purchased 90% of its coal for Moneypoint from Columbia and two thirds comes from the Cerrejón mine in Colombia’s northern department of La Guajira. The ESB is 95% owned by the Irish government. The mine has displaced 1000s of indigenous Wayúu, Afro-Colombian and Campesino communities. 123 local leaders have been assassinated in the first 6 months of 2018. The local population has access to less than 1L of water each while the mine guzzles 17 million L per day. Not only is the Irish government complicit in these human rights abuses by purchasing blood coal but Ireland should be investing in clean energy. "The International Energy Association says that “Ireland’s location at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean ensures one of the best wind and ocean resources in Europe.” A clean-energy economy can happen. An Irish energy revolution can happen. But not without government help." The Guardian Please ask the Irish government to stop supporting the Cerrejón mine in Colombia (a Blood Coal company) and to work with local NGOs to rebuild the communities that their commercial practices have helped to destroy. Please read the full article here, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/oct/25/blood-coal-irelands-dirty-secret

We have lost 60% of Wildlife and biodiversity in the World since the 1970's. We are destroying wildlife habitat and replacing it for Palm Oil Plantations, to produce 'cheap' vegetable oil. Most products don't even need the ingredient as they had the same product before using palm oil. Do You know what Palm Oil is? Did you know that Palm oil is in most biscuits, cakes, crisps, chocolate bars, snacks, sweets, ice cream, crackers? It's in soap, shampoo, makeup and cleaning products? It's in drinks and health products too? It is the most consumed vegetable oil in the world and you probably don't even realise you're eating it!! Did you know that 60% of Wildlife has been removed since the 1970's? Palm oil doesn't need to be in any products we buy. It is there because its cheap and the industry wants to sell more and more of it. 180,000 Orangutans have disappeared in the last 100 years, due to hunting, capturing and now in the past 20 years the Palm Oil Industry. This Petition is a cry for help, It is to ask everyone and anyone to STOP buying palm oil products. Please take the time and JUST read the ingredients to see if what you are buying is apart of this massive environmental crisis. Stop buying products with Palm oil which support destruction. If you like your chocolate bars, just buy one that is organic and without palm oil and enjoy it more. We need to make a collective change in how we shop, buy and support the whole environment. We also need to start realizing that we have the power to make the change. Not allowing governments and corporations to make decisions for us, empowers us to make the right choices and in turn, the corporations and governments will have to follow US !! We have a massive opportunity to come together and fight for something that is bigger than ourselves. We all need the environment to support us. We need to start working with holistic systems, design, and management that carries good ethics, values, and morals with them. Please sign this petition but most importantly STOP BUYING Palm Oil Products, period. NO MORE. let's act together with our hearts, our heads and our consumer choice.

Drug Policy, and the war on drugs has had children, parents, politicians and stranger murdered in broad daylight. Thanks to gang activity, I myself shake and fear at the noise of bangers going off. The entire country lives in fear of gangs, gangs fed through drug money, drug money coming from the "black market". Little do they realise that the failing drug policy, the politicians and their lobbyists are directly financing this through their stern, "moral" views on dirty drugs. It is absolutely unacceptable. I am sick & tired of burying my friends and lending their brokenhearted families a soaking shoulder to cry on because the government failed them. The governmental position on drugs, the policy set in place in the early 1970's, has absolutely failed them. Where were you when they found their bodies, that nobody heard of because the news would rather report the stash of Class A narcotics they found in a shed, behind a burnt out house and a car filled with hand guns and machetes. Where were you and where are you now? What are you going to do to change this? My name is Sandy Brun, I am a qualified Toxicologist and I hope to graduate with a Master's degree in Neuroscience & Pharmacology. You can find me on LinkedIn. I am sick and tired of burying my friends with dirty drugs in their veins, up their noses and everywhere else. I am sick and tired of being let down by this never ending agonizing political situation that is murdering my friends and breaking the hearts of their families. I've lived in Ireland since I was 10 years old, and I've buried a friend every year since I was 13. You're so proud of the 100th 1916 Easter Rising anniversary that the country celebrated 2 years ago. You're so damn proud to be Irish. You're so damn prejudicial and soft. Stand and fight. For our sons and daughters.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Council approved rules that will mean that 248 women- in their late 50's, with an average 35 years of experience working as qualified professionals, will lose their livelihoods. The new rules would restrict a qualified Pharmaceutical Assistant (PA) to working ONE HOUR PER DAY in the absence of a pharmacist, rendering the qualification worthless and the job position economically unsustainable. If the new rules are signed into law by the Minister for Health, PA's will no longer be able to provide professional cover for pharmacists’ day off. “It is not possible to get locum cover so if the PA can’t cover I may have to remain closed some Saturdays…It’s fairly disastrous for pharmacy in Ireland”, a pharmacist explains in research carried out to assess the impact of the rules on pharmacy services. PA's have worked on average 18 years in their present pharmacies and know their customers very well. Continuity of care is paramount to patients' health and safety. This is something that PA's offer but the PSI have totally disregarded and ignored this crucial cornerstone. PA's like Sarah explain how “I will be out of a job. I am only 60 and state pension only available at 67…I have two children in college…it will be a financial disaster…I need my work and my money “, Marie spoke of how “I still have a mortgage so am worried about keeping my family home as I am a widow with a disabled adult living with me” NO consideration or provision for compensation has been made by the PSI, in drafting these rules.

Recently Sean mc Dermot street Magdalene laundry, Dublin, was protected from being sold to a hotel because it was the only institution within state ownership. All Magdalene laundries currently named in the mcayleese report should be protected and that should have already been the plan, just like the graves that lay on some of these sites. But instead, Sunday wells, cork Magdalene laundry had been sold by the church and they plan to build housing on it. The same is currently happening to st Vincent’s Magdalene laundry, cork. It was rumoured to be given to another housing development company. The church who own many of the buildings of these institutions, although clearly just as responsible for the treatment of these women had contributed nothing to the scheme for this women that paid out for just their wages (which was capped at 10 years by the government meaning those who worked longer gets the same as someone who worked there less time) and a tip of a medical card. The government foot the whole bill, rather than a 50/50 deal like what was made for the Ryan report (which they still haven’t completed paying) their assets should have already been stripped from them to compensate these women and children but now the church they are acting quick and selling the laundries, for profit or to cover up further. These places shouldn’t be touched until a full investigation happens and a small gesture to the survivors & their families would be to give these places back to the community. The mcayleese didn’t even hit the tip of the iceberg in regards to the laundries, nor did it address all the crimes in relation to the laundries, they took so much but refuse to give so little back. The laundries still standing should be places of historic importance and not built upon to cover their shame or for what ever other reason. They shouldn’t have been allowed to be sold In the first place! St Vincent’s Magdalene laundry, (now named st Vincent’s Centre for those with “intellectual disabilities”) it is a fully functioning building, in fantastic condition and only recently they built and new Covent for the nuns on the land, why would you get rid of something that is so Newley built and in good condition? Although the last laundry closed in 1996, they kept the women on the same land in st Vincent’s, in the same dorms, just closed down the laundry part and it was run by the same people the sisters of charity right up to 2017, then when standards fell so low HSE took over and had a month to up standards, they failed the centre which was now named a centre for “intellectual disabilities” and failed the Magdalene women still in their care in that centre, those who was made to remain in the sisters of charity’s care even after the church refused to accept any responsibility to the Magdalene women’s scheme. The tax payer foot the whole bill for the women’s wages and medical card as the church felt they did nothing wrong regardless of the extensive evidence. We now need to protect all Magdalene laundries sites still standing named in the Mcayleese report. My nan died in st Vincent’s Magdalene laundry after they neglected her to death which we have the prove regarding, a doctor recommended a hysterectomy but they left her for over a decade due to the churches believes regarding being sterilised, during that time she developed cancer to the womb and bled to death, they dumped her in a mass grave where 72 women lay. Since 2013 we have been trying to exhume my nan from the mass grave after the apology was just issued to the living working residences (not even minutes was issued for the dead women) the children residents and the children of these women who died due to proven neglect and put into a mass grave wasn’t acknowledged and my mum sat in the Dàil the night they issued it heart broken for years she had been fighting to see her mothers, hers and her sisters form of justice in regards to the laundries and the fight continues. My mums sister was in sunday wells, when she left the laundry she left to Liverpool, she came back to cork but to try visit her mother who was in another Magdalene laundry, st Vincent’s, they left her outside and she never got to see her mum that day, she flew back to Liverpool and that coming Christmas Day & she committed suicide, when she was found she was found with the address of her mothers laundry on her, the authorities called the laundry her mother was in to inform her regarding what happend My nan and her children was all separated and taken due to prejudice against unmarried women but what stands out clearly in my mothers and nans reports, is that it wasn’t just due to one that prejudice of being unmarried but two, the prejudice towards those who was itinerant (irish Travellers) although reports stated my nan was a good mum and all the children was “well nourished” no stated bruises but what they did state and care for is regarding her living circumstances and being of “no fixed adobe” of the “itinerant stock” and in the 1960s a commission took place stating that very itinerant children will be taken from their families and institutionalised. Simply put, they was attempting to socially cleansing the community by using institutions and breaking up families. After the exclusive apology from the state was issued in 2013, are family requested right to removal and have been ignored by those who own the land, the sister of charity. We cannot exhume my nan without their permission, (which should be a right to survivors like my mum they do so for people just moving house) after the order first ignored us in 2013 we applied to the council and in their response in 2014, they stated although we stated we already asked the orders permission, we need their permission before taking it any further as they are owner of the site. Everyone that signs this petition, it’s so greatly appreciated, thank you all.

Music and art are integral parts of the Irish identity and an extremely important part of our hertitage. The reputation of how we treat the land and environment will pass on to the next generation so it is important that we hold the companies who profit from these events responsible and ensure they put further measures in place.

Incineration is TOXIC. Do not believe the authorities and Politicians.

A move like this is exactly what we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. We all know how devastating plastic waste can be on marine life, and by 2050 it is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. If enough of us pressure the local members in our area - we could create a ripple effect that will make all restaurants and café’s ditch single use plastic straws. If a town like Westport can commit to making all its pubs plastic free, why can’t others? [3] “We are a coastal town and want to preserve the wildlife and nature in Westport, so getting rid of plastic straws helps us to do that,” Chambers said. "It is very likely that all the other businesses in the town will come on board.” Notes [1] http://www.rai.ie/restaurants-association-ireland-ban-plastic-straws [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur [3] http://www.thejournal.ie/plastic-straws-ban-westport-3999771-May2018/

A move like this is exactly what we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. We all know how devastating plastic waste can be on marine life, and by 2050 it is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. If enough of us pressure the local members in our area - we could create a ripple effect that will make all restaurants and café’s ditch single use plastic straws. If a town like Westport can commit to making all its pubs plastic free, why can’t others? [3] “We are a coastal town and want to preserve the wildlife and nature in Westport, so getting rid of plastic straws helps us to do that,” Chambers said. "It is very likely that all the other businesses in the town will come on board.” Notes [1] http://www.rai.ie/restaurants-association-ireland-ban-plastic-straws [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur [3] http://www.thejournal.ie/plastic-straws-ban-westport-3999771-May2018/

A move like this is exactly what we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. We all know how devastating plastic waste can be on marine life, and by 2050 it is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. Plastic straws should only be given out when requested by people who have a need for them. If enough of us pressure the local members in our area - we could create a ripple effect that will make all restaurants and café’s ditch single use plastic straws. If a town like Westport can commit to making all its pubs plastic free, why can’t others? [3] “We are a coastal town and want to preserve the wildlife and nature in Westport, so getting rid of plastic straws helps us to do that,” Chambers said. "It is very likely that all the other businesses in the town will come on board.” Notes [1] http://www.rai.ie/restaurants-association-ireland-ban-plastic-straws [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur [3] http://www.thejournal.ie/plastic-straws-ban-westport-3999771-May2018/

If Westport can do it then Drogheda can too! A move like this is exactly what we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. We all know how devastating plastic waste can be on marine life, and by 2050 it is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. This is why Uplift members are banding together to create local petitions and call on their local cafes, restaurants and pubs asking them to commit to stop using plastic straws. If enough of us pressure the local members in our area - we could create a ripple effect that will make all restaurants and café’s ditch single use plastic straws. If a town like Westport can commit to making all its pubs plastic free, why can’t others? [3] “We are a coastal town and want to preserve the wildlife and nature in Westport, so getting rid of plastic straws helps us to do that,” Chambers said. "It is very likely that all the other businesses in the town will come on board.” Notes [1] http://www.rai.ie/restaurants-association-ireland-ban-plastic-straws [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur [3] http://www.thejournal.ie/plastic-straws-ban-westport-3999771-May2018/

A move like this is exactly what we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. We all know how devastating plastic waste can be on marine life, and by 2050 it is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. This is why Uplift members are banding together to create local petitions and call on their local cafes, restaurants and pubs asking them to commit to stop using plastic straws. If enough of us pressure the local members in our area - we could create a ripple effect that will make all restaurants and café’s ditch single use plastic straws. If a town like Westport can commit to making all its pubs plastic free, why can’t others? [3] “We are a coastal town and want to preserve the wildlife and nature in Westport, so getting rid of plastic straws helps us to do that,” Chambers said. "It is very likely that all the other businesses in the town will come on board.” Notes [1] http://www.rai.ie/restaurants-association-ireland-ban-plastic-straws [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur [3] http://www.thejournal.ie/plastic-straws-ban-westport-3999771-May2018/