Profiting from the incarceration of vulnerable peoples is not in line with Trinity’s statement that they “will fearlessly engage in actions that advance the cause of a pluralistic, just, and sustainable society”. Aramark’s actions should not be tolerated or endorsed by the college. This termination of contract must occur at the next available break clause. If replaced, the replacement must be a contractor that is not involved in the direct provision system. Aramark Ltd. have gone from being a relatively obscure American company in Ireland to being at the forefront of Dublin life. They recently purchased Avoca Ltd., as well as having new catering contracts with Trinity College Dublin in the new Westland East food court and Dundrum Shopping Centre. Aramark received €5.2 million in investment from the Irish government in 2016 for services to three direct provision centres - Kinsale Road in Co. Cork, Lissywollen in Co. Meath, and Knockalisheen in Co. Limerick. Residents of these centres do not feel that this large sum is being invested responsibly. In 2015 residents carried out a brief hunger strike in the Aramark run centre in Knockalisheen, Co. Limerick, after some were hospitalized as a result of the poorly produced food. A year earlier a hunger strike occurred in the Lissywollen Accommodation Centre in Athlone, Co. Meath, also run by Aramark- this time due to small portion sizes, poor hygiene, and unacceptable living standards. By continuing their contract with Aramark the board of Trinity College Dublin are supporting these inhumane conditions, and are ignoring the voices of some of the most vulnerable people in society. We need to give asylum seekers their basic human rights by providing them with decent food, housing, and acceptance in our country. 1 - https://www.tcd.ie/strategy/strategic-plan-201419.pdf 2 - http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/11/as-part-of-new-deal-three-new-food-outlets-to-replace-westland-cafe/ 3 - https://www.businessworld.ie/news/New-Chopped-outlet-for-UCD-567576.html 4 - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/state-paid-43-5m-to-eight-direct-provision-operators-in-2016-1.2987004 5 - http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local-news/198585/Hunger-strike-at-Knockalisheen-asylum-centre.html 6 - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/asylum-seekers-refuse-food-in-protest-over-conditions-at-direct-provision-centre-1.1918296?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fsocial-affairs%2Fasylum-seekers-refuse-food-in-protest-over-conditions-at-direct-provision-centre-1.1918296

We need to do everything we can to help support people to stay in their homes.

Minister of Education, HEA and President Of UL, now that ye have found that Leona O’Callaghan was wronged, what are ye doing about her losing her job? My name is Dylan Campion, I’m 17 and son of Leona O’Callaghan who blew the whistle on financial wrongdoing in UL and was managed out of her job because of it. She was on Primetime and the news in the past few days. Back when my mam was trying to make decisions about payments that she knew shouldn’t be made out of public money, I remember how stressed she was, how much she worked back and how worried she was about losing her job. I mistakenly never thought it would come to that. She taught me that doing the right thing should always come first no matter what your personal risk is. She challenged her management about payments and chose her morals were more important than giving into pressure from her bosses higher up. I’ve seen my mam lose her job over this decision. I’ve seen her feel hopeless about her career and her future. I’ve seen her worry about money and having to cope on social welfare for years now when before all this she always worked and was good at her job. My mam tried really hard to go up against UL with solicitors but it went on for years. She did sit-ins, protests and lobbied ministers when she saw the same thing that happened to her happen to others. My mam has taught me the importance of truth and standing up for what’s right. A lot of people have said lovely things on Facebook about my mam and I believe that the honest people of Limerick can help put pressure on the Dept of Education and UL to sit with my mam and give her justice. Please sign the petition to show your support that it’s not ok to treat whistleblowers like my mam in the way they have. They should be thanked and promoted for doing the right thing not have their job and future taken from them. Regards, Dylan Campion

I’ve been working for Dunnes Stores for 8 years now, and I still don’t know what my wages will be from week-to-week. On any payday, a Dunnes workers' wages can be slashed by up to 60% (more than €200). This makes it impossible for my family and I to plan our lives, and we’re not alone. There are almost 10,000 workers in Dunnes Stores who have the same worries I do. Most of us are low paid. Most of us are women. And most of us are on 15 hour contracts. So some weeks we will work 40 hours, but when a local manager takes a dislike to us, they can slash our hours to 15. And there are hundreds of thousands of workers across the country in a similar position. We don’t know from week-to-week whether we will be able to pay our bills. We can’t get loans or mortgages because the banks look at the lowest hours on our contracts and see how insecure our wages are. It’s impossible to have peace of mind. That’s why in April 2015, two and a half years ago, 6,000 of us went on strike to win secure hour contracts. After the strike, management targeted us. They sacked some of us, slashed the hours of others, changed our working patterns and generally made our lives hell. They use the allocation of hours as a control mechanism over us. So we now have to rely on politicians to legislate in order to make sure every worker in Ireland is protected from zero hour and “If and When” contracts. There have been several opportunities to pass legislation in recent years, which would have ended zero hours and ‘If and When’ contracts, but the government has delayed and postponed and are now preparing their own legislation which we believe will not benefit low hour workers. Our Union, Mandate, believes the government are going to leave loopholes open so that employers can still exploit workers like me. But if all TD’s commit to support the Secure Hours – Better Future charter, we can make sure no worker is exploited and workers like us can plan our day-to-day lives, provide for our families and pay our bills. Please sign this petition and call on your local representatives to support the Secure Hours – Better Future charter today.

Because the banks acted criminally and all those involved should be charged for the crimes they have committed which have led to suicide, marriage breakup, nervous breakdowns, homelessness and insolvency.

It would be an altogether too powerful body and they would have a complete monopoly on pesticides, fertilizers, seeds etc. Monsanto is a producer of genetically modified crops. A merger between these too would spell disaster for farming and farming produce in Ireland.

M&S made £115.7 million profit this year. M&S customers that made this possible. We are tired of being ripped off. Excuses such as currency changes do not explain why customers are being overcharged. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/m-s-charges-irish-shoppers-up-to-39-more-than-uk-counterparts-for-christmas-products-1.3252787

We have a unhealthy relationship with alcohol and some politicians seem to be more concerned about protecting the profits of Diageo and publicans than of taking a stand in favour of the health of our people. They pay lip service to the problems caused by alcohol abuse, yet are quite happy to go along with the Diageo (Guinness) marketing charade that this practice supports. We hear excuses that banning drink driving will cause rural isolation. It is possible to go the the pub and order something other than an alcoholic beverage. Driving is a responsibility - not a right. Ask any A&E staff member or any one in a refuge for victims of domestic violence about the effects caused by excess alcohol use if you feel that this is harmless. Ireland has far more to offer than just a pint of Guinness. Shame on our politicians for ensuring this is what we are best known for and perpetuating the stereotype of "the drunken Irish". Personally I find it demeaning and offensive. I hope there are other like minded people who will sign this petition to end this practice.

The decision of the Bank of Ireland to delete their ATM Irish Language Option devalues the Irish language. There are tens of thousands of Irish speakers and hundreds of thousands of Irish people who greatly value the Irish language as part of their identity. As customers we have great purchasing power and with our purchasing decisions we can effect great change in how private companies engage with us. Is céim siar agus léiriú dímheasa ar an nGaeilge an cinneadh fáil réidh lei ó na UBManna Banc na hÉireann. Tá an earnáil baincéireachta go dona maidir le héascaíocht a dhéanamh do Ghaeilgeoirí an teanga a úsáid. Tá sé do-dhéanta ráitis a fháil, baincéireacht ar líne a dhéanamh nó seirbhís custaiméara a fháil trí Ghaeilge in áit ar bith. Bhí Banc na hÉireann go sainiúil ag déanamh iarrachta tacú leis an nGaeilge agus í a chur ar fáil mar theanga roghnach sna UBManna. Bhí fíorbheagáin costais i gceist le seo, d’fhreastail sé ar riachtanais teanga na mílte duine agus thug sé deis don bhanc meas a léiriú ar chuid lárnach dár bhféiniúlacht. Faraor, tá an Banc ag cúlú siar ar an rogha theanga seo a chur ar fáil – cé gur rud beag a bhí ann, bhí sé luachmhar. Ní chuireann an earnáil phríobháideach an Ghaeilge nó cearta teanga san áireamh in aon chor agus ní inghlactha an scéal é. Nuair a chuirtear an Ghaeilge san áireamh i gcúrsaí brandála, margaíochta agus seirbhís custaiméara ag an earnáil phríobháideach, téann sé seo i bhfeidhm ar an bpobal i gcoitinne. Leis an gcinneadh is déanaí atá déanta ag Banc na hÉireann, tá díluacháil ar an dteanga á dhéanamh acu. An mbeidh an tseirbhís seo ar fáil sna ceantair Gaeltachta nó na Bailte Seirbhíse Gaeltachta cosúil leis an nGaillimh? Tá sé seo ag cur isteach ar na hiarrachtaí atá ar bun ag an bpobal agus an rialtas an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn mar theanga laethúil sna ceantair Gaeltachta agus ar fud an stáit. Is iomaí fadhb tubaisteach a bhí ag na bainc le deich mbliana anuas. Bhí ar shaoránaigh an Stáit seo teacht i dtarrtháil orthu. Is é is lú dóibh a dhéanamh ná rogha theanga a thabhairt dóibh ionas go mbeidh siad in ann cumarsáid a dhéanamh i cibé acu dár dteanga náisiúnta gur mhian leo. “Mar Chathaoirleach ar An Euro Gaelach, táim ag tathant ar dhaoine a gcuid míshástachta a léiriú maidir leis an gcinneadh seo agus picéadú a dhéanamh ag a mbrainse áitiúil de Bhanc na hÉireann, Dé hAoine, an 1ú Mean Fómhair idir a 1:30pm agus 2:30pm."

Donegal is a county which is deprived and often neglected by the Government and by corporations. As customers of Three Ireland we feel we deserve the same service as those in other areas who are charged the same rates for better quality internet. We ask that Three Ireland improve the quality of their internet for their customers in Donegal. We'd also like Three to make it clear once and for all as to to whether there is upgrade work being done in the county and when do they expect the work to be completed. Finally we ask for a reduction in the rates until such a time as we in Donegal receive the same standard of service as those in areas with high quality internet.

The Residents of St. Helen's Court have been served with eviction notices by the Vulture fund which owns the building they live in. They will become homeless within a matter of weeks if this isn't stopped. Vulture Funds like Apollo Global Management are buying up more and more property in Ireland and this type of behaviour will become the norm unless our Minister for Housing steps in to stop it from happening. Simon Coveney, our last Minister for Housing, was forced to intervene because of people power to stop a similar eviction which was due to take place in Limerick Strand Apartments. It's time now for Eoghan Murphy to do the same. Homelessness continues to grow in Ireland - and stopping evictions like this are one of the key ways of stopping it from getting any worse.

Food workers and trade unions in the food export sector of Honduras and Costa Rica continue to be subjected to unsafe working conditions and not having their legal rights fulfilled. The estimated 25,000 people employed in the melon export sector in Honduras, of which 70% are women, regularly work 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week. The International Labour Rights Forum (2012) reports that 85% of workers earn less than the minimum wage [1]. Fyffes has been at the centre of several shocking scandals involving trade union violations and abuse of workers in Honduras and Costa Rica. A report by the US Department of Labor (2015) [2] detailed a litany of exploitative practices, ongoing labour code violations and ill-treatment of workers by the Fyffes subsidiary SurAgro in Honduras, including: That the company failed to pay the minimum wage, the 13th and 14th month bonuses, the seventh day bonus, and overtime; Failed to provide personal protective equipment and potable water; imposed a 300 HNL (US $14.40) penalty for missing a day of work (even with permission from a supervisor) in addition to that day’s salary; Threatened workers with dismissal for speaking with the Honduran Secretariat of Labor and Social Security (STSS) The general union in the United Kingdom, GMB, has called the actions of SurAgro one of the worst cases they have recorded, having documented “a shocking litany of abuse and exploitation on the part of Fyffes subsidiaries in Honduras” [3] and commented that “Fyffes... have no respect for domestic or international law governing workers’ rights and must be brought to book” [4]. In January 2016, workers at the Fyffes subsidiary became the first workers in the melon export sector to unionise and a local branch of the agriculture trade union STAS was formed. The following day, four trade union leaders were locked up in an office and threatened by the Chief of Security until they signed a document renouncing their union membership [5]. In an equally sinister occurrence, it was reported by the International Trade Union Confederation that on 13 April 2017, the trade unionist Moisés Sánchez (General Secretary of STAS’s sub-branch at Fyffes’ subsidiary in Honduras) was kidnapped, beaten and threatened with death if he continued his trade union work [6].  In May 2017 Fyffes was suspended from the Ethical Trading Initiative [ETI], an alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers' rights around the globe, finding that “the actions and approach taken by SurAgro [the Fyffes-owned Honduran melon plantation at the centre of the allegations] … contravene the open approach to legitimate trade union activities that ETI would expect within the supply chain to an ETI member” [7]. Despite the sale of Fyffes to the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation in early 2017, the Irish business news website Fora reported in June 2017 that David McCann and the “senior management team” based at the Fyffes head office in Dublin were handling the negotiations between the complainants, ETI and Fyffes [8]. Therefore, the Latin America Solidarity Centre is joining with other trade unions, NGOs and international Civil Society Organisations and demanding this actions from Fyffes.