Every day My Second Spring & Wellness Warrior counsel women who have been struggling to get the right advice and support for their menopause symptoms. There are over 400,000 women in Ireland in the natural menopause age range of 45-55 – this does not included women who experience early menopause so the actual figure will be higher – this accounts for 12% of the population and this figure is most definitely higher for women who are in actual perimenopause. This is a sizable % of our population that need guidance, help and knowledge. Six years ago Aisling set up My Second Spring due to lack of the information and support she found as she experienced Perimenopause. Catherine joined Aisling in her goal to extend knowledge to as many women as possible. Over the years we have become increasingly aware of just how many women are not receiving the right support and advice at menopause, from their doctors, their employers and sometimes even their own families and friends. This is all due to a chronic lack of menopause education and awareness. We do not want the women of Ireland to struggle anymore and we want to pave the way for the next generation. Did you know in the last 20 years our lifespan in Ireland has risen by 27.7% - menopause is happening at the middle stage of our lives not towards the end as was more common in the last century. Catherine met Diane Danzebrink earlier this year and their shared passion to get the word of menopause out to everyone has led to us joining forces with Diane to extend her campaign outside of the UK. Our campaign has 3 key aims as follows Menopause in the Health Care system – education for all women and families, same-sex relationships. Education for minority groups – for example, women with intellectual disabilities and the travelling community. Education for all types of menopause (natural, early, surgical/cancer-induced) around the choices women have – Lifestyle, medical etc. Enhanced education and awareness for GP’s in relation to menopause – far too many women are suffering as GP’s receive very little, if any, menopause education during their training leaving them ill equipped to recognise and manage a phase of life that will directly affect at least 50% of the population. Mandatory Menopause Education for all GP’s and healthcare workers. The UK published the most recent suicide figures and the age group for women with the highest suicide rate in the U.K is 50-54 - The average age of menopause is 51. (As we have no official menopause stats in Ireland we must defer to UK statistics). Help is urgently needed not just for the physical aspects of menopause but also the mental aspects. Menopause in the Workplace – To raise awareness within the workplace and for all employers to have menopause guidelines in place to be able to support women experiencing symptoms. Too many women feel unsupported at work and currently 1 in 10 leave the workplace due to menopause symptoms. Supporting women to remain at work by implementing a few simple adjustments is common sense. Government and business need to recognize that menopause guidance in every workplace is a win win situation. Secondary School Education – To introduce menopause education in to the PSHE curriculum for all teenage boys and girls. Every woman and man deserves to understand this phase of life. Far too many individuals and relationships suffer as a result of a lack of understanding of menopause. The UK achieved this in July 2019, Ireland should follow suit. Please join Aisling & Catherine in calling on the Minister for Health (Simon Harris), the Minister for Education (Joe McHugh), Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty and Ministers responsible for health, work and education to #MakeMenopauseMatterIreland

As part of our Irish culture and identity, as part of our community, to enhance our local economy this college needs to be reopened.

In Ireland up to 1,000 children a year are being forced to stay at home because they cannot get a school place. Overwhelmingly, it is children with special educational needs (SEN) - often those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - who are worst hit. Every child and young person with special educational, health and care needs to have the extra support and interventions which will help the child or young person to achieve what they want to in their life. We propose a viable solution for this, an Education, Health & Care (EHC) plan to be the legal and statutory right for every child or young person in Ireland, whose special educational needs require more help than would normally be provided in a mainstream education setting (a college, school, nursery). Annual review of the plan The plan will be reviewed at least once a year. At the end of the review the local authority may make changes to the plan, end it or leave it unchanged. How long will the plan last? The plan will remain in place until your child leaves education or the local council decides that your child no longer needs the plan to help them in their education. If you move to another local council the plan will be transferred. How will the benefits of the EHCp be reinforced? A specialist Tribunal will be in place (which is essentially a no costs jurisdiction) where parents and young persons can challenge the contents of a plan If provision in a plan is not provided, the Local Council (who maintain all such documents) can be challenged by way of Judicial Review or a referral to the Local Government Ombudsman. Once a petition has been published, it will be open to signatures for six months. * At 10,000 signatures, the government will formally respond. * At 100,000 signatures, the request will be considered by the Petitions Committee for debate in Dail. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND SUPPORT EVERY CHILD AND YOUNG PERSON IN IRELAND TO HAVE THE LEGAL AND STATUTORY RIGHT TO AN EDUCATIONAL, HEALTH AND CARE PLAN.

It is important that young people have time to pursue activities other than schoolwork, such as sports and hobbies. There is a lot of pressure on young people in our world, and we really need time just to be kids. Homework creates pressure on us and on our parents who we often need to help us. We spend longer in school than students in many other countries, and should be able to relax at home.

Lyric FM is the only radio station that plays a programme that is predominantly classical music. Without Lyric, there is no station playing classical music on Irish radio as regular programming. It also offers the very best of jazz and new music.

We are not criticising teachers. They are already overwhelmed with looking after the academic, emotional, social, physical and mental development of their students. We are not criticising schools. They are just doing their best to remain open to provide education for our future generations. And we are not blaming the government. They have the difficult job of choosing what departments get funding, and what departments unfortunately miss out. Instead, this campaign is emphasising that we as a society need to keep up to date with how the world is changing. According to UNICEF, Ireland ranks number 4 in the EU for adolescent suicide rates and number 1 in the EU for female adolescent suicide rates. On top of this, the number of young girls aged 10 – 14 presenting with self harm has risen by 189% in the last 10 years. It is very clear that we have a problem. The SPHE (Social, Personal and Health Education) curriculum has not been updated in 20 years and think about how much the world has changed since 1999. If you read the SPHE curriculum, it states several fabricated outcomes such as teaching children self-confidence, how to deal with difficult feelings and how to cope with new situations. But there is no evidence that this curriculum is working? In fact, statistics are showing that it is not working. SPHE is really important and the curriculum is actually very well written. It is essentially teaching children how to successfully operate as independent individuals; how to live. However, it is squeezed into 30 minutes a week, which is absolute madness. Imagine saying that we are trying to promote the academic development of a child and then putting maths, English, history, geography, business and science all together into one subject and teaching it for a half an hour a week. As I've said, madness. But yet this continues with SPHE. Mental health is one of the biggest problems among children and adolescents at the moment and we haven’t done anything to try and change that? Intervention is important but prevention is more effective, both in terms of health and financial outcomes. Global warming is clearly happening and there are people flying less, becoming vegan and recycling more (which is fantastic). On the other hand, there are children taking their lives as young as 10 and the only thing we’re doing is telling people to talk? Just have a think about that for a second. This is important because it can save lives. The consequences of not seeing this change is children continuing to have a low quality of life or worse again, taking their lives and leaving behind devastated families. Don't wait until there is a problem. Change the curriculum and the education around mental health and we'l see the stigma reduced, we'l promote the potential of every child and we'l prevent problems before they happen. Thank you.

There are already discussions happening with the HSE on harm reduction and how organisers and promoters of these large gigs and festivals should be given options to keep people safe by providing on site testing kits and areas for people to test drugs they come in contact with. But it's not happening quick enough. Young people are dying. We need a change of legislation now to allow these harm reduction measures and on site testing kits to become a reality in Ireland. Whatever your opinion is on why people experiment with mind alternating substances, people will continue to do it and all of the best research around the world points to allowing harm reduction practices and providing reliable information as being the best approach for people who decide to take drugs. It is terrible that young people in the prime of their lives have to die because of making an uninformed choice. If the young man in Cork, who died after taking a substance at a festival had of known what exactly was in the substance he took, would he have taken it? Where testing areas are provided at festivals, many people dump their drugs when they discover it is not what they thought. They decide not to take a gamble on the unknown. But this is exactly what is happening to our young people every time they make an uninformed choice on drugs and take a gamble with their own lives. It's not good enough in this day and age and it shouldn't be allowed to continue. We need to be bold and tackle this growing concern for safety of our young people head on. Please support this campaign for greater awareness and safety around drugs so no more young people have to lose their lives. Sign and share as widely as you can. Thank you Jenny File photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times

There are 22 children in the Killenagh/Ballygarrett area seeking school transport to Creagh College in Gorey, approximately 16km away. Half of the parents in our group have already built their lives around the fact that the children can be brought to Creagh College by the School Transport system. Some of these children are going into 6th year. This is an additional stress on an already stressful year for any student. We’ve looked into private busses and it is simply not affordable at €40-€50 per week per child. Some families have 3 children in the school and most of us will have multiple children over the coming years. We have been advised that €4m would solve this situation nationally. We need a solution locally in two weeks. We need action NOW!! #22forcreaghbus

The Department of Education funds extra summer schooling for all students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and children with severe or profound intellectual disabilities. However, children with Down syndrome who have a mild or moderate learning disability are not included. Children with Down syndrome need the additional support during the Summer months so they can catch up with their peers and stay in mainstream education.

Clondalkin is over 1,000 years old and is attracting more and more visitors to view its heritage. In this regard the proposed nursing home is wholly inappropriate. The four storey building would block the view of the limestone convent while the proposed brick finish is not at all in keeping with local architecture. In addition an antique stone wall on Convent Rd., would be knocked not to mention the additional traffic that would ensue in an already gridlocked village. The grounds and cloisters of the convent include an endangered species of bird, the Swift, which would be threatened by the construction. Such a development would detrimentally affect the historic character of Clondalkin and one of its most important heritage sites.

As a fellow human, please support this petition to allow people of Kashmir to be heard and justice served

School leavers and other adults with disabilities can attend Rehabilitative Training Courses run by the HSE or other specialist service providers. There are about 1,000 locations to do this training around the country. Rehabilitative Training Courses are courses to help develop life skills, social skills and basic work skills for people with disabilities. People who do these training courses usually have intellectual disabilities, complex physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, mental health difficulties or autism. Each year, around 400 school leavers enroll in these training courses. Trainees attend these courses for two to four years and are supported to develop and review training plans in line with their needs and abilities. Rehabilitative training is intended to help participants progress to greater levels of independence and integration in their community. It may help in transitioning to mainstream post-school education and training or to specialist vocational training. Participants who satisfy the relevant social welfare criteria may be eligible for a weekly Disability Allowance as well as a special training allowance, which is currently €31.80 per week. However, Minister Simon Harris and the HSE have decided to axe this extra training allowance of €31.80 per week for all school leavers who start a Rehabilitative Training Course in September 2019. In addition, The HSE, which has a deficit of €116 million, has warned that it may have to curtail funding to disability services. 1. Disability Women Ireland want the training allowance of €31.80 per week to be retained for individuals starting Rehabilitative Training Courses in September 2019. 2. Disability Women Ireland want to stop this threat to the funding of Rehabilitative Training Services. This training is extremely valuable to disabled people giving them skills, independence and the ability to contribute to Irish society. The Mission of Disabled Women Ireland is (DWI) is to be a National voice for the needs and rights of women, trans and non-binary people with disabilities and a National force to improve the lives and life chances of people with disabilities. “Equality for women, and equality for disabled people must work hand in hand if either is to be successful” — Disabled Women Ireland https://www.disabledwomenireland.org/ https://www.facebook.com/DWIreland/