• Fairer access to medical education: places allocated based on competence not on financial privilege  • Higher quality candidates, more likely to produce higher quality doctors • Reduce permanent emigration of Irish Doctors

Why the GPO?  The GPO offers a rare and remarkable opportunity. Many of the great academies of Europe, such as the Royal Academy in London, the Repin Academy in St. Petersburg, the Ecole de beaux Arts in Paris, and the Royal Academy in Stockholm, are landmark institutions in landmark buildings, of which those cities are rightfully proud. Ireland has a unique opportunity to create something similar: an institution worthy of our capital city, the capital of the Gaelic world, that will stand as a rallying point for our national pride and national identity.  At a time when narrow, divisive forms of nationalism are on the rise, the Academy would offer a different vision: a symbol of shared cultural achievement and unifying values, honouring Ireland’s past but open to the world, and a source of pride we can all celebrate together. Honouring the GPO’s History The GPO is more than a landmark, it is the symbolic heart of the nation. It was the focus of Ireland’s struggle for freedom in 1916, and it is here that our modern nation was, in many ways, born. To establish an Academy of Fine Arts within the GPO would be to honour that legacy, continuing the spirit of what was called the Poets’ Rebellion. Many of the leaders of the Rising were writers, thinkers, and artists; their vision of independence was inseparable from a vision of cultural revival. In recent years, various proposals have been made for the GPO’s future: as a museum, as a place for shops and offices, even as a Garda station. Yet none speaks as powerfully to the ideals of 1916 as the creation of an Academy: a living institution that would nurture creativity, enrich the people of Ireland, and ensure the GPO remains a place of renewal and not only of our nation, but of our spirit. This proposal is not bound to any political party or ideology. Its purpose is larger: to give Ireland an institution that embodies the highest values of our history, while serving generations to come.  Reviving the North Inner City O’Connell Street, the principal street of our capital, should be a place about which Irish people can be proud— a vibrant, beautiful thoroughfare that reflects Ireland’s spirit. Yet today it feels diminished, its grandeur obscured by neglect and visual clutter, and much of the north inner city around it has become uninviting. The Academy of Fine Arts would help change this. By bringing life, learning, and creativity back into the heart of the city, it would restore O’Connell Street as a cultural landmark — a place where people go, not simply to pass through, but to gather, to experience art, beauty, and community. The Academy would act as a catalyst for renewal, helping to regenerate the north inner city and transform Dublin’s main street into a space worthy of its national importance. Art for humanity?  All human beings share three universal values: Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Our shared sense of Goodness (or Morality) prompts us to care for and nurture each other, and cultivate communities. Our shared sense of Truth prompts us to be just, allows societies to function, and academic and technological progress to happen. And our sense of Beauty prompts us to appreciate and care for the physical world that we live in. These values are common to all mankind and comprise the core of our shared humanity. They are innate in all of us, but they are corruptible, and must be cultivated and defended. When any of these values become undermined, our humanity becomes undermined, and societies can begin to act in ways that are uncaring, regressive, and destructive. There are many examples of this from history, and sadly, from the present day.  It is as important to a harmonious, just and humane society that it has highly trained artists as it is that it has highly trained doctors or soldiers.  In Ireland, we have done much to protect and advance Goodness and Truth through our social and academic institutions. But beauty has too often been neglected. The erosion of artistry, craftsmanship, and the abandonment of the pursuit of beauty in art education, over successive generations, has left its mark on our culture and our environment. The establishment of an Academy of Fine Arts will not undo this damage overnight, but it can begin to restore the balance, helping Ireland to move forward again with a renewed commitment to Beauty, alongside Goodness and Truth, as the foundation of an enlightened and flourishing society.

The decision to restore the student contribution fee to €3,000 represents more than just an additional €1,000 expense - it creates a significant financial barrier for thousands of students and families.  Many do not qualify for means-based grants and are already struggling under high living costs, including steep rent and energy bills. This reversal flies in the face of the Programme for Government’s promise to “continue to reduce the Student Contribution Fee over the lifetime of the Government”.  AMLÉ, the national student union, has voiced serious concern, warning that this rollback could lead to increased deferral rates, dropouts, or a migration of students abroad .  This move comes despite the Government sitting on an estimated €8.5 billion surplus and would cost just around €100 million to maintain the €2,000 fee . This isn't merely a budgetary decision—it’s a question of whether our politicians keeps their promises, prioritise equity in education, and invest in the future of Ireland’s higher education.

Ireland must not be a country where children are punished for seeking refuge and for the failures of the Irish asylum process. We must be a nation that values protection, compassion, and justice, especially for the most vulnerable.

Why is it important? Because none of us are safe under a mental health system that’s stuck in 2001. The Mental Health Act 2001 still allows forced treatment, restraint, and seclusion—even though these practices are now widely recognised as harmful, especially to neurodivergent people (like those with autism, ADHD, or trauma-related conditions). It treats emotional overwhelm as illness. It punishes difference as danger. This law was written before most people had smartphones. Before we had language for sensory overload, neurodivergence, or digital expression. It’s outdated, invasive, and not trauma-informed—and it puts thousands of people at risk every year. Why should others join? Because you don’t have to be in crisis to care. This campaign is about protecting our freedom, dignity, and human rights. It’s about making sure no one is silenced, secluded, or forcibly medicated for being misunderstood. If you’ve ever: • Had your feelings dismissed as “too much” • Been misdiagnosed • Been afraid to seek help because the system might punish you Then this campaign is for you. We need to audit the Mental Health Act 2001—and bring Ireland in line with modern science and EU human rights law. Join us. Share. Demand better. ACTIVATE. AGITATE. AMPLIFY!

The Dublin Central Equality in Education campaign group is asking for your support. We are a group of parents across the Dublin Central area of Dublin campaigning for ALL children with additional needs to have access to a school place in their community, and they receive the  support and resources they need to live the fullest life possible and have the opportunity to thrive.  We are part of the wider national Equality in Education campaign and support their demands. We as the Dublin Central area want to build awareness locally and campaign to ensure ALL the children in Dublin Central can access a school place in their community.  We are asking you to sign and share our petition with family friends and your community.  If you wish to get in touch with our campaign you can email here: [email protected] We are campaigning for the following:  • All children with additional needs in the Dublin Central constituency have an education place for September 2025.  • There is no cap on SNA allocation and all children have the SNA support they need and access to all other extra resources in classrooms across schools in the Dublin Central area.  • In the Dublin Central area the SENO will contact all creche and early years settings  to ensure all children who will need a special education place are accounted for.   • The demands of SNAs in current contract negotiations are met. They have access to professional development to support their role and the children's needs. Changes are made to minimum qualification requirement to enter the profession as per SNA campaign 

There is a consistent shortage of teachers, both in certain geographical areas and for certain subjects. The impact of this shortage means that government departments are now turning to the idea of allowing primary school teachers to work in secondary schools and vice versa. There also is an ever increasing need for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, but currently there is not enough teachers available to meet the demand for mainstream teachers, let alone SEND teachers. Introducing a specific SEND teacher training pathway would be a great way to alleviate this issue in. Children and young people have a wide range of needs and deserve access to the most suitable educational supports possible. If they are not offered the necessary supports, these pupils are far more likely to experience educational disadvantage, limited career prospects and lower life satisfaction compared to their peers. If unaddressed, their additional needs could also result in them experiencing physical, mental and emotional health challenges. Despite the fact that so many pupils face these challenges, which have such a huge impact both on their lives and on their potential in the classroom, current teacher training programmes do not cover much content about SEND provision. This makes it hard for teachers to cater for their pupils’ increasingly complex needs. There are pupils of all backgrounds and abilities with varied personal interests in schools across the country, which is very encouraging to see and makes it easier for pupils to find peers who they can relate to. Unfortunately, this diversity is rarely reflected in Irish staffrooms. The cost of university, the high entry requirements and the time it takes, deters many people from undertaking teacher training. Of course there needs to be high entry standards so that the students go on to become competent and professional educators. However, this intense training system edges out people who have the potential to be great teachers.  Having high exam results does not automatically mean that someone would make a great teacher, nor do low exam results automatically mean that someone would not be a great teacher. There is more to education than just grades, which pupils struggling with the demands of the school curriculum would be glad to hear. People often want to have a career where they can give something back and help people as an appreciation for the help they got in their own lives. For SEND pupils, they might like to become a SEND teacher themselves, especially as they would have a great understanding of their future pupils’ needs since they have been through the special education system themselves. It can be very comforting for pupils to know that that the person who is there to help you has experienced similar challenges so totally understands how you feel. However, these SEND pupils are often the pupils who might find it difficult to get into teacher training due to the challenges they face, so are not able to fulfil their wish of helping pupils in similar circumstances to them.  Even if they did not receive special education themselves, some future teachers know before they start teaching that they would like to work in special education rather than in a mainstream classroom environment, but currently there is no option to go directly into SEND teacher training, which might discourage them from going into teaching at all. Opening up a teacher training pathway so that trainees could specialise in SEND from the start would be a great option for the following reasons; It would help to address the teacher shortage, both at primary and secondary school levels, as it would allow people with an interest in the area to train and work directly in SEND, rather than schools struggling to fill SEND teaching roles with non-SEND teachers due to a lack of SEND specific teachers. It would be a great way to attract potential teachers to the sector who might not like the idea of working in a typical classroom environment so therefore might opt to avoid teaching altogether. It would open up teacher training to more people, especially those who do not meet the usual teacher training entry requirements (for example if they did not do Irish in school due to specific learning difficulties or not having been raised in the Irish education system).  It will allow for a greater diversity of teachers, which will more accurately represent the ever increasing diversity of pupils with all different backgrounds, abilities and interests in our schools. It would give people who have experienced SEND provision (either directly themselves or from seeing the positive effect it has had on other people in their lives) more opportunities to give back to the system that they have benefitted from themselves. It would improve the quality of SEND provision in schools, as current traditional teaching programs cover very little about SEND provision, so having people trained specifically in this area would help to counteract that. It might help to reduce the demand and points for traditional teacher training courses, which would give more people the opportunity to pursue typical teaching courses, helping to alleviate the teacher shortage even further.  Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully it will result in the introduction of SEND teacher training pathways in the near future!   Amy Reynolds* *I am a qualified Special Needs Assistant (SNA), Teaching Assistant (TA) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teacher. I am passionate about education, particularly inclusive education, and the benefits it brings, especially for pupils with SEND. I myself have not been able to reach my dream of becoming a teacher due to limited entry pathways and high entry requirements for teacher training course. I now work in pharmacy and am completing an apprenticeship pharmacy technician style course. I would like my future work to combine education and pharmacy / healthcare*

Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) play a vital part in the lives of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The current lack of centralised Garda Vetting makes it very hard for SNAs to work in schools, as at the minute they have to vetted for every single school they might want to work in. This means that schools can often struggle to get a substitute SNA since the SNA is not vetted for their school (even if they are vetted for the exact same role in other schools), resulting in pupils missing out on important educational supports. If other professionals can have centralised vetting, like how teachers have universal vetting through The Teaching Council, why can SNAs not have the same option? Centralised vetting would also help to reduce the amount of time and resources that school management members would have to spend preparing SNA vetting paperwork for SNA staff. Even if a nationwide organisation was set up to manage the centralised vetting of SNAs, most SNAs would appreciate being part of a group where they can connect with other likeminded SNAs and peers. The role of an SNA is often misunderstood and overly simplified by people, so it would be a nice acknowledgement of the importance of their everyday work with SEND pupils. Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully it will result in the introduction of centralised Garda Vetting for SNAs in the near future! Amy Reynolds *I am a qualified Special Needs Assistant (SNA), Teaching Assistant (TA) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teacher. I am passionate about education, particularly inclusive education, and the benefits it brings, especially for pupils with SEND. I myself have struggled to get opportunities to work as an SNA (even as a substitute) as my vetting for other settings would not cover me for that particular school. I now work in pharmacy and am completing an apprenticeship pharmacy technician style course. I would like my future work to combine education and pharmacy / healthcare*

The closure of The Wombles at this location will not only leave children without crucial early learning opportunities but will also place an immense strain on working parents who depend on after-school care. Many of us have built our work schedules around this service, knowing our children are in a safe, familiar, and supportive environment. The impact extends beyond our families, affecting six dedicated early years educators who may lose their jobs. Early years education plays a vital role in identifying children who may need additional support or early intervention, and The Wombles has been instrumental in ensuring children receive the help they need from an early age. Over the past decade, they have provided Level 7 support for children who have gone on to thrive in school. We urge you to find a solution that does not leave 98 children without care and education. Our families need your immediate attention to this matter.

Men with Prostate Cancer who have come to end of chemotherapy may require a therapy called Pluvicto , to help extend what ever time they have left. The vast majority  of men in this country will not be able to afford this treatment. Up to at least 100 men a year will require this treatment and while we understand this treatment is expensive , we have to ask are Irish men’s lives and the time they have left less important than any other Irish citizen who needs a treatment. This treatment is widely available in the EU and as such we feel as paying members of the EU we should be entitled to receive this treatment in Ireland. It is not just men with cancer who would benefit from this  being available, wives,  partners , children, mothers ,brothers ,sisters and friends would  love to have some extra time with their loved ones in the last stage of prostate cancer

The dedicated staff who work there are asking for our support to help them keep their jobs local. The Centre supports our schools and local community. It is too valuable a resource to loose. Please sign and share my petition if you wish to give your support to my campaign. Alone I can do nothing, together we have a chance to succeed. Thank you all so much.

Here’s why you should sign: ✅ Hold Politicians Accountable – If an elected official ignores their campaign promises or fails to take action on critical issues, voters should have the power to respond before the next election. ✅ Strengthen Democracy – Other democracies like the US, Canada, and parts of Europe already allow citizens to recall politicians. Ireland should modernise its system to give people a stronger voice. ✅ Ensure Promises Are Kept – Campaigns should not be built on empty promises. If politicians know they can be recalled for inaction, they will have a stronger incentive to follow through on their commitments. ✅ Empower Citizens – Democracy doesn’t stop at the ballot box. Irish voters deserve a mechanism to ensure they are truly represented throughout a politician’s term. Signing this petition is a step toward real accountability in Irish politics. Let’s make sure our leaders work for the people—not just for re-election. Sign now to demand change!