Girls and boys should be treated equally

Many schools, especially in the voluntary sector are underfunded and rely heavily on fund raising and voluntary contributions. Millions are being spent every year on sending pointless postage to teachers who either file the payslips away and never look at again or simply throw straight in the bin. This wastage needs to stop!

Our students and their wellbeing will always be the central focus of any new educational change or reform. And rightly so. But does that mean that our wellbeing as teachers needs to be compromised? Taken advantage of? Or worse, not even considered with regard to the monumental task of creating your own curriculum/schemes/units of learning etc. The extra workload demand put on teachers over the past number of years has been catastrophic and unfortunately there is no end in sight. Once very dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic teachers are now becoming overworked, stressed, burn out and in some cases looking for an alternative career path because the current one in unsustainable and hindering every aspect of our lives. No job or vocation should impact every single aspect of your life to the extent teaching is currently. What we are paid to do is quickly becoming the last thing we actually get to do due to the extra administrative tasks/planning etc. we have to create. Our voices, our professional opinions/comments/suggestions need to be heard. We are the front line of this new educational reform. Yet we have not been sufficiently prepared for this monumental change. Whilst trying to get to grips with the new system, create new plans/schemes/Units of Learning/top notch active learning resources and practice and continue all the other roles and responsibilities we have as teachers. We also need to actively teach this brand new plan that we are desperately still trying to figure out ourselves? Surely this is madness. I matter. You matter. We matter. Please sign so that our voice is heard.

This is important because every student deserves to achive their maximum results based on what they have learned instead of how fast they can write.

We live in a culture where sexual assault can be dismissed as a joke, where a woman's choice of underwear can be used as a defence in a rape trial, where women do not feel safe in their own home, their school, workplace or community. Change will come from the ground up - from people speaking out and supporting each other and when our institutions and leaders take action to respond to the demand for change.

We would like a safe place for the children, staff and parents to cross the road to the school premises. Ideally, we would like a traffic warden/lollipop man/lady, a zebra crossing, ramps to slow oncoming traffic - especially from the roundabout and a pedestrian lights to help all members of the school community cross the road safely. We would like 'School Ahead' signs put up to warn drivers to excise caution. We would like these located in front of the school where we currently have zig zag lines, as we do not want children to be crossing the road between cars.Currently we have 167 pupils in our Junior School plus 19 children who attend Montessori on our premises. We have 21 members of full time staff and parents who also may cross the road to come to school.

It is important that we all have an understanding of our past. Without this it is difficult to analyse and gain perspective on the events of today. History offers us an important way to learn and hear the stories of the people and events that have shaped Ireland and the world today. Young people growing up today need to be able to relate to what has happened in the past in order to make sense of how our society works.

Since the economic crash in 2008 hundreds of thousands of Irish people have been affected by financial legal issues which can end up in court proceedings. There are currently 20,000 cases for repossession in the Irish Courts. With a typical family of 5 that is over 100,000 people. Some experts say 250,000 - 500,000 are affected by potential repossession in Ireland. While every criminal in Ireland from the petty thief to the rapist, murderer, drug dealer and maybe even Bankers in criminal proceedings are entitled to legal aid, Civil Legal aid is only available for family law issues in Ireland. People in financial difficulty have to try and represent themselves in Court, or, just not go to Court at all, and lose their homes by default; without a defence being put forward. While ordinary citizens go unrepresented, the financial institutions often have a Solicitor, or maybe even two, and one or two Barristers. A Fair Trial requires there to be balance and equality between the parties and is known as an Equality of Arms. In Irish Courts there is #NoEqualityofArms The "Scales of Justice" are completely lob-sided in the financial institutions favour. Ireland... #ThisIsNotDemocracy Article 47 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights says everyone is entitled to be advised and represented if the legal issue involves EU law, but this is not implemented in Irish law and, Judges appear not to have jurisdiction to grant legal aid in Civil Cases. Irish Citizens are being denied one of the most Basic and Fundamental Human Rights, the Right to a Fair Trial. The foundation of democracy is based on the Justice & Legal systems. If basic human rights guaranteed under EU law are been withheld from Irish Citizens then... #Ireland... #ThisIsNotDemocracy Minister, please introduce emergency legislation to make civil legal aid available to the tens of thousands of people in the Irish Courts involved in repossession proceedings. No Fair Trial = Ireland... #ThisIsNotDemocracy Ireland needs #CLAN PS: Please support the Irish #CLAN Please share on social media and ask your friends and family to do the same, the Irish #CLAN needs everyone's support!

Educational researchers agree that our current mainstream school system does not align with meeting the needs of children. We can no longer judge children's abilities in standardized testing, which ignores their creativity as well as talents and often makes them feel isolated, stupid and worthless. Especially children with additional needs are not nourished in the long outdated school system. In most European countries progressive schools such as Montessori, Sudbury, Homeschools and Waldorf Schools have long been a welcoming space for children to flourish, to gain self confidence and to become independent and happy citizens. Unfortunately these schools in Ireland depend fully on fundraising and fees alone because they do not receive a single cent from the Irish government. Teachers often partially work for free, because they believe in the significance of these educational establishments, and more importantly in the children's right to self-direct their learning, no matter of their financial background. It is time to allow parents and children to choose how their personalities will develop healthily, without a religious indoctrination, by letting them learn in an alternative non-denominational school. Please add your name to this petition to collectively ask our new Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, to spread the allocated funds for education more fairly by including alternative schools such as Montessori, Sudbury or Steiner, as well as homeschooling in the state funding, so that no child has to pay fees in order to grow there. With good hopes for the future, Carolin, a former teacher

Dublin City Council are set to bulldoze the Weaver Square Community Garden & Family Allotments from 31st December 2018. This is a serious concern for ALL residents of Dublin 8: 1. Dublin 8 is being subjected to an onslaught of short-term, high-density property development (Hotels, student accommodation) at the expense of the existing community. Over 2000 such units have been constructed in 2018 in this district alone. 2. Dublin 8, a high-density urban community, has the lowest amount of green space per m2 in Dublin. Now it will have even less! 3. This is the latest Dublin 8 community resource lost to property development in 12 months. We have already lost Dublin Food Co-Op, Green Door Market & Flea Markets. There is also uncertainty over the future of Meath St, Liberty Market, St Theresas & now Players Wills site developments. 4. DCC are reneging on written commitments to keep the Weaver Square community garden/allotments. 5. There are alternative vacant DCC sites that could be used for development without destroying this valuable Green Space. 6. Over 300 people benefit directly from the community garden & allotments on a weekly basis. These social, health, environmental & educational benefits will stop on 31st December. The garden & allotments are used by schools, pensioners, community groups & families.

There are children without a school placement option if this SNU does not open in the new school year. There is a large community of families with children with autism who will need this in the future. We have waited long enough. This was sanctioned in 2015.

Limerick is a city without nuclear weapons, with no plans to stockpile them. This campaign demands the rest of the world follows suit. In a world where armies are growing, and we come ever closer to war, the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons must be brought into law. Ireland is one of the only countries in the Western World to sign the Treaty, as powerful people with money-driven agendas want to stop it from happening. However, Ireland has not yet ratified the Treaty, which would bring it into law. The United Nations & ICAN is calling on towns and cities across the world to raise their voices in support of humanity. Let's bring the movement to Limerick, and let the world know who we are. Let's ensure our children have a future. Let's make Limerick a Nuclear Free City. #icansavemycity Email me for further information: [email protected] The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.