Students and young people are the future of this island. They will be our doctors and teachers and nurses, however with the failings of this government many are leaving here as they see no hope for a future or they are dropping out of courses as they are unable to afford to be a student. 

£73 million. That’s how much Stormont exempted companies such as Coca-Cola, Moy Park and Kingspan from paying rates last year. While the rest of us fork out an average of £1,180 per year for our household rates bill, Stormont gives big businesses massive giveaways. This is incredibly unfair. Rates should be fully collected from multi-million pound companies and invested in shortening our waiting lists, cleaning up our polluted rivers and loughs, our struggling schools and many more. But it won’t happen if Stormont won't make them pay. Northern Ireland is the only place in the UK that gives away money like this. The policy was abolished in England in 1963 and Scotland in 1995. And in 2003, Stormont promised to phase out the derating policy following a public consultation. But over 20 years later, Stormont is still giving away millions through this outdated policy. We, the undersigned, call on Minister Caoimhe Archibald to scrap the rates exemption for big businesses.

So Ireland can have an even better and yet more efficient healthcare system. Because when patients get admitted to hospital for being sick or injured which is not their fault and they get billed, most of them usually hire a lawyer so they can get reimbursed which is a hassle, time wasting and can cost even more money. I strongly believe that the government is more than capable and has the money to fund and cover the healthcare for all the residents in Ireland because the employees who work pay income taxes regularly but not only that, the items we buy in shops and the food and drinks we order from restaurants, cafés, pubs, etc all have taxes on them which go to the government upon purchase. In Ireland, public healthcare should be free and ONLY private healthcare should be paid for.

The Grand Canal has been a valued public amenity in this part of Dublin since the late 18th century, and a core green space for local residents since. Its a valuable part of our city's heritage and brings relief to local residents on their daily commutes, runs, and walks. In response to rough sleeping in the area brought about by poor planning, mismanagement of resources, and ineffective government agency responses over several years, Waterways Ireland has erected preventative fencing along the canal. This has deprived the local residents of their public realm and created an brutal eyesore for all who pass by. These fences must be removed, government agencies must be resourced to take swift action to accommodate and help our rough sleepers, and our public realm must be reclaimed for the benefit of all!

We have found out that our community youth  space is about to be closed because the council won't continue to fund it.  The Factory Youth Space in Limerick City is a space for all the community. Every week hundreds of people use if for youth groups, dance classes, sports and disability groups. The place is hopping! Yet the council just couldn’t be bothered to guarantee funding to keep this essential space open. We are calling on John Moran, the Newly Elected Mayor of Limerick to use his new position to make a real difference to the people of Limerick and save our youth space. By Christmas the youth and sports groups will be made homeless as there are no other community spaces to be found. Even Scrooge wouldn’t kick young people with out into the cold.  We won’t go quietly and are going to kick up a stink. If enough of us shout loud enough together, they can’t pretend not to hear us. We are calling on Mayor John Moran to act on behalf of the people he is supposed to be serving.  Sign the petition to help make our voice loud enough that the Mayor can’t pretend not to hear us.   Limerick Youth Voices

So many of us were horrified to learn about the extent of sexual abuse that has taken place in religious run schools in Ireland. A scoping inquiry report uncovered 2,395 allegations of abuse against 884 alleged abusers over a 30 year period in schools run by religious orders. Despite this wide-scale abuse, more than 90% of schools are still controlled by religious institutions. We are calling on this government to end religious patronage of schools in Ireland and to offer all children the safe, secular education they deserve. Education Minister Norma Foley has been dragging her feet on this issue for too long. It's long past time for action. 

The ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has been raging for over 15 months, has been described as a ‘forgotten war’. While we welcome the funding contributed by Ireland and the EU so far, it is greatly disproportionate to the needs of the people living in Sudan. In Ireland and Europe, media and diplomatic attention seem focused on conflicts with greater strategic relevance to political leaders but the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan must not be forgotten. Since the war began in Sudan, almost 10 million people have been displaced from their homes (1), more than 15,000 people have died and a growing list of atrocities have been committed.(2) Half of Sudan’s population, or 25 million people, are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost half of those are children.  Close to 4 million children are facing acute malnutrition (3) and famine was recently declared in camps housing between 400,00-600,000 internally displaced people in part of Al Fasher. (4)   Sudan is currently experiencing one of the worst education crises in the world, with over 90% of its 19 million school-age children lacking access to formal education. (5) This ongoing disruption to children’s security, health and education will lead to a generational crisis for the country with negative impacts for years to come. Urgent action is needed to protect the lives and basic human rights of all children living through this conflict.   The catastrophic effects of food insecurity and famine are compounded by the risks from infectious disease outbreaks, disruption to public health services and lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Nearly three-quarters of health facilities are out of service and diseases including cholera, measles and malaria are spreading at a time when two-thirds of the population lack access to health care. (6)  Despite these harrowing statistics, adequate humanitarian assistance has failed to materialise, with only 32% of the estimated 2.7 billion USD requirement for the Humanitarian Response Plan having been provided.(7) To put this in perspective, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has made available almost 52 billion Euro in support for Ukraine encompassing macro-financial assistance, crisis response fund and humanitarian assistance.(8) EU funding for Ukraine is welcomed, but considering that EU funding for humanitarian assistance in Sudan totals only 1.045 billion since 2013 (9), the international community and the Government of Ireland must do more for the people of Sudan.   Ireland benefits from over 1,600 Sudanese doctors (10) working within our health service, providing essential healthcare to our population. Their families, loved ones and fellow citizens in Sudan are bearing the brunt of this war.  We must do more. We must keep advocating for far more humanitarian assistance and for far greater diplomatic endeavours to end the armed conflict as quickly as possible. Though it may not be a geopolitical issue, it is a human rights issue. References 1.    Sudan Situation: UNHCR External Update #68, 28 June – 4 July 2024 https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-situation-unhcr-external-update-68-28-june-4-july-2024  2.       https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148536 3.       https://www.unicef.org/sudan/stories/find-test-and-treat#:~:text=Sudan%20is%20grappling%20with%20one,suffering%20from%20severe%20acute%20malnutrition 4.       https://fews.net/east-africa/sudan/alert/august-2024?utm_source=press&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sudan_august 5.       https://www.unicef.ie/2024/04/15/sudan-war-second-year/ 6.       https://www.unrefugees.org/news/sudan-crisis-explained/ 7.       https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan/ 8.       https://eu-solidarity-ukraine.ec.europa.eu/eu-assistance-ukraine_en#strong-and-comprehensive-eu-response 9.       https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/africa/sudan_en#facts--figures 10.   https://www.medicalindependent.ie/in-the-news/breaking-news/lack-of-wellbeing-support-for-sudanese-doctors-in-ireland-amid-devastating-war/

Having an Irish passport is something we are suppsed to be proud of.  It is not supposed to be a travel pass for racists to move between countries to flee from their local police forces when they are being sought to answer for the consequences of their actions. To quote the Imelda May poem. "You don't get to be racist and Irish".

No matter who we are or where we come from, all any of us want is to protect and take care of our families. Being evicted from the only shelter we have is cruel and heartless.

"Kilkenny says No" is a group of people of far right ideology with ties to The Irish Freedom Party protesting a previously vacant building now intended to be used to accommodate IPAS residents. The GAA is Irelands largest sporting organisation and has a long history of being diverse and inclusive and the misuse of the county emblem is a disgrace.  Many supporters and players are people of colour and the GAA must take steps to seek the removal of the county emblem from hateful, racist social media profiles. The GAA continues to develop abroad, led by the Irish Diaspora with both regional and club units now well established in the United States, Australia, Britain, mainland Europe, Canada, Asia and many other parts of the world. 400 clubs promote the activities of the GAA around the world. Sign the petition to implore the GAA to address this misuse! 

People seeking refuge make up an important part of society, Irish people have flocked all over the world for generations and we cannot pull the ladder up behind us now that we are a thriving economy.  We want Kilkenny to be a safe and welcoming place for all residents.  We want Mayor Andrew McGuinness to very clearly state the differences between emergency accommodation for homeless people and the temporary accommodation provided during the asylum application process.  “An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum. - Amnesty International” Emergency accommodation for homeless people is usually provided by County Councils and/or housing bodies. People seeking asylum are not taking a bed away from anyone and usually being accommodated in basic rooms like hotel rooms or previously empty buildings often without access to cooking or laundry facilities. People seeking asylum are not legally permitted to work during the asylum claim unless they have not recieved a first decision on their application for 6 months. They may recieve an expense allowance which is means tested. The rate for an adult is €38.80 per week (€5.54 per day) and are not entitled to recieve child benefit for their children.  People seeking refuge did not cause the housing crisis. A lack of investment in social housing and the overinflation of rental properties has. The reliance on private landlords through schemes like HAP have only encouraged this.  We have had a lack of investment in our health services for many years, not accepting new residents will not address this situation.  Please sign and share and let's make Kilkenny a safe and welcoming society again. 

Kingswood Football Club has 7 teams with no local pitch to play on. We have been told we can train and play on pitches in Tymon Park, which is 4km away, but this would leave behind kids who don't have a parent to drive them.