Being denied IVF treatment because of being HIV+ is discrimination and needs to change. HIV is no longer a death sentence illness. We have already gone through enough, and now being denied access to fertility treatments because of an archaic system is deeply unfair and further stigmatises people like me.  In countries across the EU, accessing fertility treatment as a HIV+ person is not an issue. In the past year people whose partners who are HIV+ can to access to IUI. This is amazing, but many of us need IVF for many other reasons.  I wrote about my experience in the Journal.ie https://www.thejournal.ie/hiv-women-ireland-6387696-Jul2024/ Listen to my interview on Cork 96 FM https://shows.acast.com/corks-96-fm-opinion-line/episodes/woman-with-hiv-on-struggle-to-get-fertility-treatment-in-ire

Natasha O'Brien was beaten unconsciou by Cathal Crotty in an unprovoked attack. He only stopped when a male passer by intervened. He then fled the scene and boasted about the attack afterwards on snapchat saying "2 to put her down, 2 to knock her out". He has been given a fully suspended sentence. While the victim has lost her job and suffers ptsd from the attack. Cathal Crotty is a serving soldier paid by the state and continues to be paid by the state while he used homophobic slurs and when asked to politely stop grabbed Natasha by the hair and punched her unconscious. This man should not be allowed to continue in his position in the army. His sentance needs to be appealled as being overleniant. What message is this sending to the women of Ireland? 

Brigid as the Celtic Goddess of Spring and the Matron Saint of Ireland has been revered for generations yet her 9 day Pilgrimage route from her birthplace in Faughart, Co. Louth through Co. Meath and the Hill of Tara to her monastic community in Kildare is not waymarked. We wish to help encourage the County Councils, Ireland's Ancient East, Fáilte Ireland Tourism Agency, Tourism Ireland and the Dept of Rural & Community Development to provide funding and commission a feasibility study to create signage along the route with an App and a Map. Then Brigid's Way may join her 12 brother Pilgrimages who have been signed for many years (St Kevin's Way, St Declan's Way, Croagh Patrick etc)  Please sign your name and write your location. Spread the word - the more people who sign the quicker anyone can walk this 9 day Pilgrimage themselves similar to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Currently a group of volunteers lead groups once a year and 1 day walks twice a year. We want to make this accessible for everyone.  Dr Karen Ward, on behalf of the Brigid's Way volunteers https://www.uplift.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image.png

For a long time the Irish police did not recognize racism as a form of discrimination. Meaning that the state was not aware or have any official record of the extent of racism in the country. everyday people from migrant backgrounds face prejudice in their workplace, homes, schools and colleges. It is important that institutional and State bodies implement adequate policies and procedures to ensure that racism is combated within Ireland. Without proper support from their institutions people of color and people of migrant backgrounds will continue to be impacted by discrimination and institutional racism throughout their daily lives.

With the exception of a few, higher-level institutions in Ireland do not provide free period products, despite repeated requests from our campus communities. There is a clear demand for these initiatives, from students and staff. The initiative needs to be streamlined and supported on a governmental level. By tackling period dignity head-on, we can directly tackle stigma and shame around periods for students and staff, thus making our campuses more inclusive places for members of our academic community from all backgrounds. Quality of learning and teaching is affected by menstruation - and we do not want anyone to get caught out by not having adequate products in those moments. By ensuring access to free period products, especially as the housing and cost-of-living crises worsen, we can ensure that those from worse-off socioeconomic backgrounds are supported throughout their education. The government has piloted free period products in certain education boards, but this has not yet extended universally to higher-level institutions. We have heard that there are plans to do so. We, students and staff, call to expedite this process and set down funding to make period products accessible in bathrooms across all higher-level institutions in the country.

Having a large mural of US president Joe Biden in Ballina reflects very badly on the people of Ballina, Mayo and Ireland who hold very different views to Joe regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The issue of employment status has become particularly pressing with the recent launch of PWO's report, 'Workers in All, but Name, Pay, and Conditions' (find at: https://pwo.ie/our-policies/); and imminent publications the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and the final draft of the government's 'National Review of State Supports for PhD Researchers.' PhD researchers have none of the standard entitlements of employees such as PRSI, sick leave, maternity leave, the minimum wage, or the right to join a trade union. They earn less than subsistence wages in conditions of insecurity. The call for employee status has been made as a solution to these problems, bringing us in line with European best practice. Recently organisations such as IFUT, SIPTU, and the USI have all endorsed employee status. But the IUA and university administrators have voiced their opposition. We believe an issue as important as this should be debated openly and across the entire college community. The discussion should not be confined to boardrooms, and all should have the opportunity to hear both sides and express their opinion. That is why we call on the Provost to commit to organising a public debate on the issue that will be open to all students and staff.

It is not natural to put children into uniforms for all of their childhood. Be in no doubt that they sap some of the light and levity out of the child and out of the school. They introduce fear and conflict because they involve enforcement, punishments, reprimands, and alienation. Schools become that bit more hostile to many children. Teachers waste enormous amounts of time enforcing and harassing and haranguing students about the clothes they are wearing and very stupid things like the colour of their shoelaces. They are expensive, restrictive, uncomfortable, oppressive and outdated. They reflect a right-wing conservative need for ultra-conformity to control children. In France it is Le Pen's neo-Nazi's who want to introduce uniforms. They are counter to modern educational philosophy which values plurality, problem-solving, creativity and self-expression. Ireland and Malta are the only two EU countries with this widespread practice, both with a British colonial past and a widespread smothering conservative, Catholic control of schools. It is a myth that uniforms protect children from bullying. In the wider European continent, out of 40 countries, uniforms are the norm in eight, and all eight of those report above average levels of bullying (Statista 2018). Rather than trying to make everyone look the same (impossible anyhow) by enforcing ridiculous dress and appearance rules, better for school to focus on developing children's ability to be resilient, accept themselves and other people for who they are in all their wonderful human diversity.

0% Irish female solo artists featured in the Top 50 Radio Charts songs of 2022. In 2023 only 3% 3% of the Top 100 Songs on Irish radio in 2023 included solo/lead/front Irish female artists. 3,255,000 listeners tune into Irish radio every weekday. When it comes to music, getting your song added to a playlist on a radio station can be life-changing for an Irish artist. The Irish broadcasting sector has historically not supported women or diverse artists in music from Ireland. Following a series of Gender Disparity Data Reports conducted by Linda Coogan Byrne and her team at Why Not Her?, the evidence showed that Irish radio managers consciously decide year in and year out to exclude Irish female-identifying artists, female fronting bands and diverse artists from Radio Playlists across Ireland. Of songs featured in the Top 50 Radio Charts of 2022, only 12% were by domestic Irish artists or bands (0% Irish female solo artists). This translates to 6 songs by 4 Irish artists: 1 song by Belters Only feat. Jazzy; 3 songs by Dermot Kennedy; 1 song by Moncrieff; and 1 song by Welshy feat. Nono. None were by Irish persons of colour - solo artists or groups - and none were by female solo artists or groups. Fast forward a year later and only 3% of the Top 100 Songs on Irish radio in 2023 included solo/lead/front Irish female artists: Jazzy*, Aimée and Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries. As the years go by, it is becoming more and more difficult for Irish people to discover and hear the music of Irish women and diverse artists. When asked why there are so few women artists played on the radio, managers said: "Men make better music than women" "Why are you feeding us to the wolves?" "We don't have the budget to be diverse" "We don't make the rules" "Women just moan" "She is too old and long in the tooth to be making music" "We actually had some women on a Special Friday Night show back in Feb" "It's the label's fault, not ours" "You should analyse the record companies. You’ll see an imbalance in what we’re being sent". "It is whatever makes the charts" "People prefer to listen to male acts, they request them on air!" "You need to be careful and stop stepping on people's toes in radio" "You need to stop asking questions" In the meantime, many new and emerging male artists are recognised and supported across the airwaves, allowing for a host of new household names to emerge in the landscape of Irish music in the past decade. It is common for white male lead/front artists/bands such as Hozier, Gavin James, Cian Ducrot, Robert Grace, Moncrieff, The Script, etc. to be heavily played during the day and evening on Irish airwaves, while their diverse and female counterparts are played in the middle of the night. The Journal.ie 13.02.24 https://www.thejournal.ie/prev/6298235/dvX7Tyf5Xocvo/

The decision by MU’s Governing Authority and senior management to replace democratic elections with a selection process, whereby they assume, with the assistance of a private recruitment firm, the responsibility of handpicking staff representatives, is an attack on basic principles of democracy and good governance.

This is important to remember how far we have come in providing abortion as healthcare in Ireland and to say ‘Never Again’ should religious views predominate over human rights.

Gardaí have completely failed to protect LGBTQI+, migrant and other marginalised communities from far-right violence and intimidation - with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris even admitting this to be a tactic. We can still remember the violent policing approach used on the striking Debenhams workers, students and water charges protestors. There is only one fair conclusion to draw from this, and it should leave Gardaí unwelcome at Pride events.