During the early hours of New's Years Day 2024, two young men, Eamon and Evan Murphy attacked an asylum centre in Kerry. Carrying a can of petrol and having kicked in the door they were prevented from causing further damage by an on-duty security guard. Despite having earlier been informed by Judge David Water that they faced jail sentences, and his finding that they clearly intended to set fire to the building with people inside, neither will now face jail time.  When it came to sentencing Eamon Murphy received only a four month suspended sentence, with Evan Murphy not even receiving a criminal conviction. This sentencing sends entirely the wrong message to those who might consider causing the most serious harm to people who seek asylum in this country. https://www.pressreader.com/ireland/the-kerryman-north-kerry/20240731/281552296126306 https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2024/1217/1487053-killarney-centre-attack/

• 12,734 murders in the first half of 2024, with an average of 70 people murdered daily. • 11,520 civilian casualties in the Ukraine war between February 2022 and July 2024. • 42,780 rapes reported in the 2022/2023 fiscal year (1 rape every 12 minutes). • 15,343 kidnappings reported in the 2022/2023 fiscal year (51 per day). • 5,488 cars hijacked between April and June 2024 (60 per day). Can you imagine living under these conditions? For just one week or one month, consider what it would feel like to live in such an environment. Your home: 1. Alarm system always armed. 2. Bars on your windows, never opened at night or when you’re not in the room. 3. Security gates on your front and back doors, always locked. 4. High property walls covered in electric fencing. 5. CCTV cameras for constant monitoring. Even with all these security features, the average South African rarely sleeps deeply, fearing that someone may bypass these measures and enter their home to rob, kill, or assault them. If the alarm is triggered, it’s often not the police who respond but a private security company, and response times can range from 30 minutes to never. On the streets: Walking requires constant vigilance. Nobody walks alone. Children don’t play in parks, walk to visit friends, or go to the mall without close adult supervision. Many children cannot even play in their own yards unsupervised. Crime Statistics in Major South African Cities Cape Town, South Africa • Population: 464,986 • Murder rate: 64 per 100,000 inhabitants Cape Town ranks among the world’s most dangerous cities, with a murder rate of 66.36 per 100,000 residents. Johannesburg, South Africa • Population: 5,866,550 • Murder rate: 37.9 per 100,000 inhabitants Johannesburg is one of the world’s deadliest cities, where displaying wealth can make you a target for kidnapping. Traveling in an armored vehicle or with a large group is recommended for safety. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa • Population: 475,238 Both public and private transport, day and night, can be dangerous in Pietermaritzburg. Violent crimes peak at night. It’s recommended to avoid taking out cash unless inside a hotel or bank due to the high crime rate and low police presence. Pretoria, South Africa • Population: 741,651 • Murder rate: 38 per 100,000 inhabitants Pretoria is another dangerous city where travelers should avoid walking or traveling at night. Armed robberies and gang violence are prevalent, making armored vehicles a safer option for those who can access them. Sources: • Most Dangerous Cities in the World - Armormax • Shocking Murder Numbers in South Africa - BusinessTech • Ukraine War Casualties - Statista • Sexual Offenses in South Africa - Statista • Kidnapping Cases in South Africa - South African Government

Najwa Elsabbgh is 74 and is trapped in Northern Gaza. We demand that her name gets added to a list of adults and children who are due to be evacuated to Ireland in the coming weeks.   Najwa was granted a visa in February 2024 to come live in Ireland with her daughter Sherin Alsabbagh, an Irish citizen since 2022. Najwa has the approval from Israel to leave Gaza. To neglect to evacuate Najwa during this critical opportunity would be an abandonment of the Irish Government's obligation to protect its citizens and their immediate families.    After being displaced more than 11 times, Najwa is back hiding in her home near Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s biggest medical facility, which has been destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since October 7th, 2023. The IDF besieged the hospital in March and destroyed numerous surrounding neighborhoods, leaving Najwa’s own home partly destroyed after a deliberate tank shelling. Neighbors across the street were killed and they remain buried under the rubble.   Despite Sherin's repeated pleas, Najwa is still trapped in Gaza; the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish government have so far failed to provide a safe exit for her. It has now become a matter of extreme urgency for the Irish Government to act, as Najwa's health is in rapid decline after enduring a year of hardship under constant bombardments, starvation, sickness and repeated displacement. Najwa’s back and knees are bad from fleeing in panic over broken roads and dead bodies. She is weak from the lack of food and water.    Every single person in Gaza means the world to their family, they are not merely numbers. Sherin fears she will not see her mother again. Time is against her, with the ramping up of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, its intensity shows no signs of diminishing.   Najwa has already lost nearly 200 members of her close and extended family, her health is in decline. She has all her papers in order and has the legal right to be reunited with her daughter in Ireland. Put Najwa’s name on the evacuation list!  

We need to get justice for Imelda, the case was not properly investigated at the time of her disappearance, it’s 30 yrs later and we need your help and support, Please help us get justice ! 

Natasha O'Brien was beaten unconsciou by Cathal Crotty in an unprovoked attack. He only stopped when a male passer by intervened. He then fled the scene and boasted about the attack afterwards on snapchat saying "2 to put her down, 2 to knock her out". He has been given a fully suspended sentence. While the victim has lost her job and suffers ptsd from the attack. Cathal Crotty is a serving soldier paid by the state and continues to be paid by the state while he used homophobic slurs and when asked to politely stop grabbed Natasha by the hair and punched her unconscious. This man should not be allowed to continue in his position in the army. His sentance needs to be appealled as being overleniant. What message is this sending to the women of Ireland? 

*WARNING* Possible wake up call ahead, be prepared to grab the wheel! To all the parents like myself on all the WhatsApp groups, checking the time of GAA training for tomorrow... Recently driving home from work I felt I was nodding off a bit, a product of this modern world, too much on, too much running around, too much technology coming at me, I'm exhausted to be honest! When I got home and after doing the domestic dance of who's making dinner that night, I fell in front of what was my "babysitter" growing up - the TV. At the same time my kids are spread out all over the house in front of their modern "babysitter" - the mobile phone. Why did I get them these devices? Because you got them for your kids, and you got them because I got them for my kids, peer pressure at its worst! The internet is an amazing tool, the reason you are reading this message, but we all know there is the dark side that we don't like to think about, is it a case of modern life has us so tired that we are asleep at the wheel or are we just turning a blind eye? The internet is like a car, difficult to live without one, safe and practical in the hands of an adult, but give a car to a 12-16 year old and it's possibly a form of abuse! Dangerous to the child and dangerous to those around that child! The state has a dark history of child abuse, something you would think would not happen again in our modern society, that we would not let it happen on our watch, however abuse can come in many subtle forms! Are we all guilty of staying quiet like all those cases years ago, choosing the easier path!? The media is awash with the side effects of these devices - social media anxiety, mental health issues, shore attention span, behavioural issues, desensitization to violence, social disruption, sleeping disorders, eating disorders, underage sex, teenage pregnancies, underage sex crimes - the list goes on, it’s some punishment on our kids and on our communities just so they can be "connected" and watch a few dance videos! Even with something as trivial as dance videos you start to realise the algorithms are pushing more and more sexualized content towards you! The sexualization of our kids at such a young age and the normalization of that fact is a serious modern-day issue. "You need to build a relationship with your kids, educate your kids" - this is what most internet guides tell parents. Good advice but it only addresses "pull" technology i.e. educate your kids not to go looking for the darker side of the internet. The problem is exacerbated now by "push" technology such as Snapchat where the darker side comes looking for you! Everything is not how it seems when it comes to Snapchat, on one side there is what appears to be a harmless app where kids can swap funny photos etc. On the other side it’s an unregulated, unfiltered, hidden, dark network, where kids can make and receive any kind of content they like, and I mean ANYTHING! Sure, wasn't there always a playboy magazine knocking around back in the day I hear you say, but the playboy magazine didn't contain graphical content of underage kids, and wasn't interactive, asking you to create content back! If you said 20 years ago that we're going to create a device and put it into each child's pocket and one thing it will enable is for kids to send naked pictures and videos of themselves to each other, then people would have thought you were crazy! Snapchat knows this but are too busy making millions, it will argue they are only supplying the pipes, the kids are the ones pushing the toxic water through. It's the gun manufacture debate, they only make the guns, you're the one pulling the trigger. Just like web email has filters, Snapchat could implement filters, they choose not to, they could even put AI software in place that says “we know that's you, cop yourself on”! As a 16-year-old, I would have been all over Snapchat, it has the thrill of a new relationship, aspects of gaming (fishing for better rewards) as well as the titillation! The content circulating on Snapchat can trigger kids to have an interest in porn, they then go looking for stronger content in other places on the internet. There's also a known sextortion scam circulating on Snapchat which has led to numerous shocking suicides! People say you can't change Society, but Society is the people, Society is us, we can change! Why did we get the phones in the first place? Society put peer pressure on us to get them, so let’s put peer pressure back on Society to change, then Society can go full circle and remove the phones! I believe most parents deep down know we've made a mistake with access to these phones at too early an age. Forget all the serious issues above, even just to get rid of the domestic arguments around screen time would make them worth removing! This is the cigarettes of our time causing the cancer in our Society, I truly believe in 10 years’ time people will look back and say, “what the hell were we thinking?!” Our government knows they are awash with social and underage issues but are they asleep at the wheel or is it a case of too little too late? Are they willing to take on the phone manufacturers?! The ask here is that you put your name to this petition asking for a public vote on smart phones. I believe if the vote was put to the public, the public would do the right thing! If you want to get involved in our movement, please join our Smartphone Free Childhood Ireland WhatsApp Group Invite And/or please take this quick poll (only two questions - do you believe there should be a minimum age and if so, what age?) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8PJK9SH Thanks for reading, let's keep our kids safe out there! Sound Bytes Sam References: Jonathan Haidt on the Mental-Health Crisis and Smartphones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6NfPHrVilc The Anxious Generation Evidence  https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/research/the-evidence

For the security and safety of the Town and area Why do we have to go to Portlaoise to have a form signed

Nearly 4 years later there has been no movement on this. After numerous email correspondences with the Department of Justice and James Browne’s office there has been no clear answers. I now need the support of the public to get this legislation fast tracked. In the words of Deputy James Browne 21st July 2020 - “Currently the theft of a pet is treated by the law as the very same as stealing a deck chair. Yet, the theft of a pet can have a devastating effect on its owners and their family. This should be reflected in the sanction given out for such a theft. Where the theft is of therapy or support dog there should be an even greater sanction.” Dogs and other companion pets are still being stolen daily in Ireland. The theft of a pet needs its own classification and adequate punishment. Pet theft is a LOW RISK/ HIGH REWARD CRIME.

Please sign and share this petition on social media and ask your family and friends to sign and share it too. Once this decision is made, it will not be rescinded.

We think that by giving these tool thieves a platform, the government is enabling them to sell these tools for quick cash. We think that by not taking this action, the government is increasing the pressure on the police, who get calls about tool theft from all over the nation. Insurance companies are also impacted negatively by this crime. People in the trades struggle all over the nation to make ends meet and support their families. This must come to an end. We propose imposing a fine of €10,000 on individuals who vend used power tools at car boot sales or markets, as well as on those who arrange such events. Make it difficult for those who steal tools.

19 years ago, twenty year old Terence Wheelock left his home in Summerhill to buy a paint brush in a local hardware store. Shortly after, Terence was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and taken into custody at Store Street Garda Station in Dublin’s North Inner City. Terence would never walk out of that station. He died three months later in hospital. The Garda investigation into Terence’s death was led by an officer with a long history working in Store Street, where Terence was in custody. The 2010 GSOC investigation and Coroner’s case omitted crucial evidence including Terence’s blood-stained T-shirt, which had been “lost” by Gardaí until recovered relatively recently. The Coroners’ case failed to return a unanimous verdict in favour of the official story. Many questions remain unanswered. Since his death, the Wheelock family and the community they come from have campaigned for truth and justice for Terence - demanding a full public inquiry into Terence’s death.

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.