Stratford-on-Slaney is unique. It’s one of Ireland’s very few planned villages, built on a hill overlooking the River Slaney in 1774 and completed around the 1780s by Edward Stratford, the 2nd Earl of Aldborough. His vision was a Georgian industrial town, centred on a thriving cotton and calico printing industry that employed over 1,000 people at its peak. What’s happened? Recently, the Stratford Tidy Towns Committee placed clay mounds on our Greens without community consultation or showing residents any visual plans. Despite four requests for an open meeting to allow dialogue, they have declined to engage with us. When residents attended the most recent Tidy Towns meeting to raise objections, we were told they will only follow what the National Tidy Towns judges say about the mounds. Our community’s voice does not matter to them. Why we object: 1. Massive loss of heritage: The 2025 National judges said our Octagon, chestnut trees, and old buildings on High Street are what make Stratford a very beautiful village. These mounds destroy a 250-year-old heritage feature. 2. Health & safety: About 60 tons of soil now create dangerous bike ramps for children and block sightlines for drivers. 3. Security: Families that live on the Green are worried about privacy and falling house values. 4. Loss of tradition: The village Christmas tree can no longer be placed in the centre. Every use of the Green that served generations for 250 years will now be lost. This is our only open green space. It is the heart of our village. We are calling for the mounds to be removed and our historic Green restored.  If you believe that heritage and the original sites of our villages and towns should be cared for with pride, please sign our petition and share it with your friends. We need your support. So far we have been met with silence.

The Road R741 from Crosstown to Castlebridge is unsafe and unfit for its purpose.  12000+ cars use this stretch of road every day, a ten fold increase over the last 2 decades. Over the years, there have been fatalities and recently many near misses with pedestrians and cyclists - some instances where they have been knocked over.  Elderly people, parents with children and disabled people using mobility scooters are forced directly onto the road where public footpaths end abruptly and verges are unsafe. The roads unsuitable resurfacing and lack of infrastructure and drainage has meant the verge is now at a sharp angle, where you can no longer safely walk. The danger is increased in wet weather. From Crosstown service station to Castlebridge, the speed limit increases from 60 to 80 km/h, while public footpaths and cycle lanes suddenly end. Unsafe verges mean pedestrians are forced directly onto the roads surface.    Houses along the road are in dips as a result of careless resurfacing - where the road is now bowed - causing flooding with damages of over €30,000.  This applies to a stretch of road just 1.2 miles long where cycle lanes and public footpaths end in abruptly in Crosstown and begin again in Castlebridge - how are pedestrians and cyclists supposed to travel safely without these measures? 

Across Ireland, people with disabilities are still being shut out of buildings and services that are open and working for everyone else. They are told “we can’t afford it,” “the building is too old,” or “we can’t let you upstairs.” But the real problem is not just bricks and mortar. It is a legal and policy system that still allows too many businesses and public bodies to delay, deflect, and do too little. Ireland has equality and human-rights obligations in this area, including under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a lifelong wheelchair user for over 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the discriminatory practices of both businesses and government bodies when it comes to making the built environment wheelchair accessible. Despite Ireland’s domestic and European equality and accessibility obligations, these bodies still exploit loopholes in the law — particularly phrases like “nominal cost” and “as far as practicable” — to sidestep real action. The result is persistent accessibility barriers that have a profound negative impact on people with disabilities, denying equal access to public spaces, workplaces, and essential services. Accessibility is not a special request. It is part of the equality and human-rights standards Ireland already claims to uphold. Yet in practice, the law still leaves major gaps. In employment, there is a stronger reasonable-accommodation / disproportionate-burden framework. In goods and services, providers can still rely on the “nominal cost” limit in the Equal Status Acts. And on the public side, the Disability Act still uses the phrase “as far as practicable” for public buildings, which has too often allowed delay instead of delivery. The system is also too fragmented. Most equality complaints go through the Workplace Relations Commission, but licensed-premises and registered-club cases follow a different route. That means the burden still falls too often on people with disabilities themselves to fight exclusion one complaint at a time. And this issue is not only about customers or service users. Inaccessible buildings can also lock people with disabilities out of recruitment, work, training, and career progression. Employers already have legal duties in this area, including around adapting premises, but access should not depend on luck, goodwill, or the willingness of one person to fight alone. That is not good enough. We are calling on the Irish Government and local authorities to close the loopholes and treat accessibility as a non-negotiable standard in every business, public service, workplace, and public-facing building. We are asking for: 1. Close the loopholes in both private and public access law Amend the Equal Status Acts so that access cannot be avoided by relying on “nominal cost” where meaningful accommodation is reasonably achievable. Amend the public-buildings regime so that “as far as practicable” can no longer function as a blanket excuse for delay. 2. Make access a condition of public funding, public investment, and public approval Any publicly funded refurbishment, retrofit, or new build should have to meet strong accessibility standards as a condition of approval and funding. Public bodies should be required to publish time-bound accessibility plans for their buildings and services. 3. End segregation disguised as accommodation Sending a person with disabilities to a separate room, separate entrance, or separate service point while everyone else uses the main service is not equal access. If a business or public service is open to the public, it must be open in practice to people with disabilities too. 4. Cover workplaces as well as public-facing premises Accessibility reform must apply not only to customers and service users, but also to workers, job applicants, trainees, and volunteers. No one should be excluded from employment because a building has not been made accessible. 5. Stop landlords from being the next excuse Where a business or service provider wants to make access improvements, landlords and property owners should not be allowed to block reasonable accessibility works and then leave tenants to carry the blame. 6. Shift the burden from individuals to the system Introduce routine accessibility audits, public reporting, a public register of inaccessible State buildings, funded retrofit deadlines, and real accountability, so access does not depend on isolated complaints after the damage is already done. Accessibility is not charity. It is not a luxury. If a building or service can operate for the public, it should be able to operate for people with disabilities too. Sign if you believe accessibility should be the law in practice, not just the promise on paper.

Please sign my petition and support me in gaining suitable emergency accommodation supports from Donegal County Council.

Pathfinder is a collaborative HSE initiative between St Luke’s General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny and the National Ambulance Service. It is an essential front line service that centres care around the elderly in Carlow and Kilkenny. - It supports to the most vulnerable in our communities to help them avoid a hospital stay. In 2024 they supported 300 patients and that number has been steadily increasing. They have knocked on the doors of hundreds of vulnerable people and allowed them to get the care and support they need in the comfort of their own homes. There is a wealth of data that shows hospital stays can increase the risk of catching deathly bugs or viruses. It can also increase the risk of medication errors, falls, immobility and many more instances that can increase mortality. Prevention is better than cure -  - Ultimately, where it is safe and possible to avoid a hospital stay, it can be better for a person's health, particularly someone who may already have an underlying health issue. - It also means someone does not have to go through the logistical stress of a hospital stay which makes life easier for them and often, for the people and families who care for them. Yet shockingly, over Christmas, the Management of St. Luke's decided to remove this essential lifeline and re-deploy these workers. - Despite multiple attempts they have not provided any data to suggest this move is the best use of resources or is in the best interest of vulnerable people. The management say this is a "temporary" re-deployment but the manner in which they have callously cut Pathfinders does not inspire confidence, nor have they published any data that explores the ramifications that even a "temporary" closure will have on people. To date there has been a serious lack of transparency and oversight. This petition calls on the HSE and the management of St. Luke's to reverse their decision and keep Pathfinder Workers in the community. There is no evidence to suggest that re-deploying these workers into St. Luke's will result in more early supported discharges. We need funding to enhance more essential services and ESD - Not cuts to established essential services. It is possible that the removal of this service in Carlow and Kilkenny could be the start of a Nationwide move to cut this frontline service. 

More than 1 in 5 people in Ireland report having a disability or disabling condition or difficulty, and most people will experience some form of disability at some point in their lives. Disabled people face some of the greatest barriers to full participation in Irish society. They are at significantly greater risk than non-disabled people of experiencing poverty, social exclusion, and unemployment, as well as barriers in transport, housing, education, and other areas. For example, 2 in 5 people with a disability are unable to afford essentials like heating or new clothes, more than double the national average. 1 in 5 people with a disability live in consistent poverty, nearly four times the national average. Ireland also has one of the widest disability employment gaps in the OECD: less than a third of people with disabilities in Ireland are in employment, compared to an EU average of just over half. People with disabilities face a higher cost of living. In the context of rapidly escalating costs in energy, food, and housing, disabled people are particularly vulnerable to cost pressures, especially as they are more likely to spend more of their time at home. The need for a cost of disability payment was identified as far back as 2004. That principle was reaffirmed in the State-commissioned Indecon report, published in 2021. The 2025 Programme for Government committed to the introduction of a permanent Annual Cost of Disability Support Payment with a view to incrementally increasing this payment. However, such payment was not included in Budget 2026. In fact, The Disability Federation of Ireland estimated that Budget 2026 would make disabled people €1,400 worse off in 2026 when compared to 2025.

Handicapped people need to treated with respect,  and Fingal County Council,  should knowbthis.

Blister packs are really important for people with medical conditions and for older people. These are the very people who already struggle to pay bills, and keep food on the table. 

Right now, over 18,000 children across the country are overdue for an Assessment of Needs, 1,953 of them here in Kildare alone. Families are exhausted, stressed, and fighting a system that has failed them at every turn. From endless waits for primary care psychology, to 11,000 children stuck in limbo waiting for a first contact from CDNTs, to the scramble for school places and supports that simply aren’t there parents are being pushed to breaking point. Many families are trying to ensure there is early intervention for their child but are being left without vital supports. We have actually seen a reduction in the number of Speech and Language Therapists qualifying. It has gone from 370 in the academic year before the pandemic to 355 last year.  The number of therapists qualifying each year is reducing and on the other hand the government are scratching their heads wondering why they can’t fill the vacant therapist posts in CDNTs.  Children in schools are being let down too. Despite asserting that children don't need an assessment of needs to qualify for supports Parents, Teachers and school Principals know that resources are limited and children with an AON are prioritised. The Minister for Disability has announced a streamlining process for AON but hasn't detailed how this will be acomplished or set a timeline for compliance with the obligation for a 6 month assessment period for children.  We also want to see school expansions fast tracked. We hear announcements of funding but it then takes years between design stages, the tendering process, construction and the actual delivery of new classrooms. Many schools have had to convert classrooms to accommodate children with additional needs.  Please sign the petition so we can put pressure on the Government to deliver for the children in Kildare and across the country.  Melissa Byrne 

In Stapolin ETNS, we are having to campaign for 2 additional autism classes to meet the needs of children within our school and local community because the NCSE have informed us that our school is not considered a priority, despite us showing a clear need for these classes.  We currently have 2 autism classes which arre full. We have 8 children with eligibility letters in our mainstream waiting on an autism class space. On top of that we have 50 children on our waiting list, 20 of whom are in our immediate catchment area.  2 more classes is 12 spaces. That would ensure that the 8 children in our mainstream have access to the supports the need to access their education, as well as offering remaining places to some of those on our waiting list.  While we appreciate it’s important that schools without autism classes are encouraged and supported to open them, the need in our own school is urgent and undeniable, and we don't understand why both can't happen at the same time - allow us to open additional classes to support the children currently in our school and in our local catchment area, while also encouraging schools without autism classes to open them aswell.  Every child should have the chance to continue their education in the community where they’ve already built friendships, feel safe, and have strong relationships with staff who know and understand them. Please support our campaign for two additional autism classes in Stapolin and to support the rights of children to an appropriate education that meets their needs. 

Right now, one in 20 schoolchildren in Ireland are being diagnosed with autism, that’s a threefold increase in less than a decade. Yet there are still huge gaps in access to appropriate education, on both primary and secondary school-level. Children like Jamie are not asking for special treatment, only for equal access to education within their own communities. Uprooting autistic children from familiar surroundings, routines, and peers causes unnecessary distress and isolates them from the place they call home. Every child deserves an education where they feel included, supported, and seen, without having to travel miles away just to be accepted. It’s time to make sure that no family has to fight this same battle again.

There are thousands of people affected by this issue and yet it is ignored by planning/councils and government.  People with medical conditions needing urgent toilet access experience pain, accidents and humilation when refused access to toilets when out in publuc spaces. Shops/businesses have a right to refusal, legalising the "No wait card" would stop this.  It would bring a better quality of life, take away anxiety and stress when going out in society and bring dignity to people affected. #Nowaitcard  #invisible disabilities