The last thing this country needs is a return to the bad old days of out of control pay hikes for those at the top, while everyone else struggles to make ends meet. Banks make huge profits already, paying bonuses to their bosses will accelerate inequality.

It's important that we can educate our kids in a non religious environment. As well as having a low cost School for those who struggle with paying for uniforms ,book etc.

Students are in the red. - 88% of students report worrying about their money and finances during the academic year. - There is an expected shortage of 20,000 student beds by 2024. -The €1,000 reduction in the Student Contribution Charge is a once off reduction. - PhD students are still fighting for a stipend that covers the cost of living. We, the students, need to take a stand for affordable, accessible education. Students can’t afford to stay quiet, so we’re walking out. At 11.11am On October 13th 2022, thousands of students walked out of lectures, to remind politicians that students aren’t an endless money pit. Our demands for students are as follows - Accommodation Demands: Protect Renters - Legislation to protect students in digs-style accommodation - Continuing the eviction ban for students - Legislative change to allow the RTB to intervene in disputes relating to security deposits Reduce Rents - Legislation to enact an immediate rental cap - Establishing freezes on utility bills separate from rents - Allowing the RTB to intervene in relation to security deposits Subsidisation of affordable PBSA from public funds - Building on public lands new and refurbished PBSA - Specifically ensuring approved PBSA is affordable in conditions - Re-establishing the interdepartmental group on student accommodation Cost of College Demands: Abolishment of the Student Contribution Charge - Abolition of the fee within the Lifetime of this Government - Transparency on how non-EU and postgraduate fees are set - Removing hidden course costs in materials and subsidies Funding for the HE Sector (inclusive of SUSI reform and funding) - Funding to increase SUSI grant levels to match the cost of living - Increasing SUSI rates for all brackets to a living subsidy - Increased funding to the sector to reduce the staff student ratio to the European average of 15:1 Minimum wage to match living wage - The normalisation of wages for workers under 20 years old - A PhD stipend of €28,000 following the PhD review - A living wage based on the cost of living, not the median income

We call on the Minister to implement the UNCRPD and UN resolution on disability and for those living with rare disease and chronic illness, to ensure they survive in this cost of living crisis.

A Aire Harris, a chara, We are writing as representatives from the PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU) to express deep concern with the current PhD stipend scheme in light of the cost of living crisis and coming inflation, as well as to address the grave inequality created by proposing €28k PhD stipends without increasing the pay for existing PhD researchers. The PCAU officially formed 8 July 2022 after approximately 350 PhD researchers from across Ireland came together to address the increasing challenges facing PhD researchers in the current economy. We democratically selected our Union’s stance, and now are reaching out in accordance with the demands of those in our group. We maintain that the current PhD stipend is insufficient on several accounts. All of Ireland, especially Dublin, has a cost of living crisis driven by increasing rents and rising inflation. The costs are even higher for non-EU researchers, who have to pay for health insurance and residence permits each year. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported an approximate 9.1% inflation of prices1 in the last year, which means that the current (average) stipend of €18.5k has the same purchasing power as a €17k stipend pre-inflation, when current first-year PhD researchers accepted their roles. A recent survey conducted by leadership in SFI funded research groups2, shows that the financial burden impacting current researchers is having a real and consequential negative effect on researchers’ physical and mental health and ultimately their ability to perform research. researchers feel they are not valued, and some have expressed doubts as to the point of continuing when they could get much better-paid jobs in industry. On top of that, Ireland recently announced a plan for a new PhD programme with a stipend of €28k per year3. In addition to the current €18.5k stipend being below both living and minimum wage, it is now creating a vast inequality where current PhD researchers will be performing equal work for only 66% of the pay of new researchers. This is not acceptable. It is in the opinion of the PCAU that all PhD stipends must be increased to €28k in order to address inflation, the housing and cost of living crisis, and the new government valuation on PhD-level research as seen in their most recent PhD funding initiative. We understand that this requires a lot of change, planning, and work. Therefore, we would like to request a meeting between you and our Acting President to discuss how PhD stipends can be brought to a livable and equitable value. Please contact us so that we can arrange a date for a meeting. Is muidne, le meas, An PCAU agus a lucht tacaíochta The PCAU and its supporters Sources 1. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/cpi/consumerpriceindexjune2022/ 2. Please refer to the letter addressed to Dr Maysoun Mustafa, Scientific Programme Manager at SFI, on June 2nd, 2022. 3. https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/1b902-taoiseach-and-minister-harris-announce-innovate-for-ireland-a-new-initiative-to-recruit-and-retain-talent/

Ireland has repeatedly missed its greenhouse gas emissions targets and, with the transport sector accounting for 20% of the nation's CO2 emissions, switching to electric vehicles represents a great opportunity to cut emissions quickly. This also has the benefit of reducing air pollution, which will benefit public health, while the cheaper running costs will help many who are already struggling due to the Cost of Living Crisis. At present, incentives are only available for brand new electric cars - which makes them unaffordable for the majority of people. This is also delaying an affordable second-hand EV market, which needs to be prioritised if the majority of people are to be able to make the switch. A key mantra for tackling the Climate Crisis is doing more with less. Converting petrol, diesel and hybrid cars to run as full EVs is a great example of this – as it takes cars that run perfectly well, but which have high and harmful emissions, and delivers all the benefits of electric cars – such as lower running costs and no air pollution – at an affordable price. We have previously seen the Irish Government offer scrappage schemes for cars – but this has come at the cost of a lot of metal, plastic and oil waste. By funding EV conversions instead of supporting scrappage schemes, the Government can not only avoid unnecessary waste, but also help to keep natural resources in the ground by effectively recycling the cars that we already have. The French Government has made EV conversions available for a price of just €5,000, which is a much more realistic entry point for most people in Ireland. Especially during a cost of living crisis

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942

Going cashless would gravely impact our community as a whole. There are a great deal of people that hugely rely on the cash services daily. There are many people who would negatively impact from going cashless including elderly people & people who cannot travel to other banks elsewhere. I would also affect people who are not tech savy. We do not want a cashless society

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942

AIB is moving 70 of their branches to cashless banking. [1] Not only will going cashless mean no notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, bank drafts - it will remove any drop safes, night safes and ATMs outside. This is going to cause huge hardship for many people - especially older and vulnerable people, local businesses, people who don’t have access to the internet. The greed and recklessness of banks, including AIB bosses, played a crucial role in bringing about the financial crash. [2] Homes were repossessed by banks, families lost their incomes, young and not-so-young people were forced to emigrate, businesses had to close. We cannot stand by while our majority state-owned bank hurts our communities again. [1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0719/1311026-aib-to-turn-70-branches-cashless-expand-an-post-deal/ [2] https://pai.ie/bank-bailout-costs-state-nearly-e42-billion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32516942