Queen's is now a leading UK university - but for all the wrong reasons. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that in 2017 - QUB's female professors earn an average of almost almost 15% less than their male colleagues - an average gap totalling £11,798. To put this into some perspective - this is the highest pay gap among the 24 leading UK universities, known as the Russell Group. It's entirely unacceptable that in 2017 a leading publicly funded university pays men 15% more than women for the same job. Join with Uplift today and sign our petition to demand the Vice-Chancellor and Senate of Queen's University take meaningful action today to address and reverse this shameful pay gap.

It prohibits the “publishing or uttering [of] matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion”. Fundamentalist organisations have cited Ireland’s law as best practice and has even proposed the adoption of its precise wording to limit human rights on freedom of conscience. Now Stephen Fry is being investigated under this terrible law. Now its time to scrap it. http://www.thejournal.ie/stephen-fry-complaint-of-blasphemy-3376318-May2017/?utm_source=facebook_short

Bernie is giving a speech on June 4th which sold out after 1 minute. There are thousands of people who are willing to pay to hear him speak, to hear a voice for the people. Someone who stands up for the environment, all people and the planet as a whole. My hope is that hearing Bernie speak could spark the revolution that is needed in Ireland so we can transform our country and go back to the values it was founded on.

A modern police force needs to be transparent and accountable. In light of the whistleblower, penalty points and breath tests scandals it is currently neither. If public confidence is to be somehow restored in the Gardai, Noirin O'Sullivan must resign.

On behalf of the DCU Students' Union, which consists of nearly 17,000 students, we are troubled by the new updates from Campus Residences Ltd., for the upcoming 2017/18 academic year. These include; - A 9% rent increase for Hampstead Accommodation. - An 11% rent increase for SPC and Larkfield Accommodation. This is a 49% rent increase in two academic years. I know that Campus Residences Ltd., only recently took it over but an 11% increase comparable to the quality of Larkfield accommodation type is unbelievable when you take into account the quality of accommodation provided on both campuses. - An 8% rent increase in some areas of Purcell House Accommodation. - That some rooms on Postgraduate Accommodation will see a 23% rent increase. It's hard enough to find accommodation for our students and for the college to drastically increase the cost of rent for our students at a time when we're having an accommodation crisis in Dublin shows a lack of compassion for the daily student struggles. We're asking Governing Body to come down from their Ivory Tower and realise that their demands are unrealistic and unfair.

The list of weaponry and ammunition, tanks, military personnel that has come through Shannon airport over the last several years can be read on the Shannonwatch website. This information was only made public through a Freedom of Information request and despite this some details have been redacted, which means even our own government don't know what's coming through Shannon. With the recent bombing by the U.S. in Syria and the Russiian response, it is clear that events are developing at a fast pace. The only safe option for Irish people is to remain neutral and insist that our government doesn't compromise our safety by continuing to facilitate Trumps' war machinery.

If you have a TV, it's reasonable to expect that you watch RTE. It is not reasonable to assume that a person without a TV but with a laptop (which they may require for work) watches TV. It would be very easy for the minister to issue credentials with a TV license so that only license holders can watch RTE online.Levying a TV tax on computer owners is like levying a cigarette tax on plumbers - some plumbers smoke, but that wouldn't make such a tax equitable, would it?

Music festivals and events should be accessible to everyone in a fair way - but just this morning - tickets for the sold out electric picnic were put online by ticket touts for extortionate prices. This needs to be stopped so that touts can't unfairly profit off people like this.

These are some of the worst incidents of abuse in the history of the Irish State. Many children died through neglect and ill-health and possibly physical abuse. All suffered. The State at the time knew this was taking place, but rather than shut them down, they paid these organisations to house those they deemed undesirable. Places like Westbank in Greystones were used as an illegal adoption agency and profited very handsomely out of it. Whilst victims of similar Catholic-run organisations have been recognised under the Redress Act 2002, no such move was made for those in Protestants homes, even though Bethany Home falls under every category for redress. Despite meeting members of the Bethany Home Survivors Group, Minister Zappone is still refusing to fast-track redress for these long-suffering people. Not many are left now and time is running out. https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/bethany-home-survivors-disappointed-over-governments-refusal-to-extend-fast-track-redress-scheme-927837.html

A 17 year old school student has already been found guilty of false imprisonment – a verdict a barrister described as “a recipe for totalitarianism”. This related to an anti water charges protest in Jobstown, Tallaght in Dublin on 15 November 2014, where then Tánaiste Joan Burton’s car was delayed for 2 and ½ hours by a spontaneous community protest. The 18 adults now awaiting trial from April 2017 face sentences up to life imprisonment. The trials, which will be six to eight weeks long, themselves will place enormous stress and strain on the defendants. If jailed, families would be left in very difficult situations, with jobs lost and parents in prison. If TD Paul Murphy is jailed for more than six months, he will be removed as a TD, denying the democratic choice of the people of Dublin South West. The political establishment and the supportive media are desperate to tarnish the anti water charges movement as a violent, anti-democratic mob. By grossly misrepresenting and using what happened in Jobstown they want to weaken our democratic rights and so make it easier to impose economic inequality. The laws used to directly seize the Property Tax from wages or benefits as well the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) legislation used to rob the wages of pubic servants, show that this attack is real. The dirty smear campaign against Maurice McCabe by the Gardai tops, shows the lengths this rotten establishment are willing to go to shut down descent and opposition to the status quo. The definition of ‘false imprisonment’ is being changed and this affects everyone. Any temporary delay or obstruction at a protest or picket, which for example inconveniences a politician, could be deemed false imprisonment. This is about intimidating people and criminalising protest.

Stepping aside in light of the serious allegations of wrongdoing and interference with the administration of justice is important for our democracy and is in the interest of good policing. Those in positions of management and leadership in the Garda, the criminal justice system and the government need to absorb this request.

Ireland has a world renowned reputation for being a peaceful country. Offering the keys to Dublin to Mr Obama will seriously damage our good reputation that values peace and neutrality. It's time to stop looking to other countries and start recognising the relentless work of people who do more to help the most vulnerable in Ireland rather than those who use and abuse Ireland in pursuit of war. Councillors, in honour of all the innocent civilians murdered around the world by Mr Obama and the United States of America, please retract your decision immediately. The Irish public